Stockholm Syndrome
by luannlullaby
Summary: His eyes, nose, face, skin color was all the same. Yet his voice was not. This was not their son; this was not their Matt.
1. Chapter 1

Our Son, Not

One year, it had been one year since Matt Ishida had gone missing in the digital world. One year since Natsuko and Hiroaki saw their beloved eldest child. One year since that frightening day when Takeru (also known as TK, for short) told them the horrifying truth. One year. One lifetime. One change. A permanent one, one which would be remembered forever. Mr. Ishida had never been a neglectful father; no, the flaw he had was working too many hours and accepting promotions which had caused him to spend less time with his precious baby boy. There is a saying, 'you don't know what you've got till it's gone'. I suppose this could apply to the situation which had taken place that year ago. I suppose one could say the parents of the now-found-child did take him for granted. Yet, this is all supposition.

They were waiting in the perfectly silent living room; the estranged couple had not spoken a word to each other, nor did they even fight, which was rare for them. It was for the sake of their beloved baby boy they were being civil. It was for the anxiety of the moment mixed with feelings of happiness and relief that is keeping them silent. Awaiting for that moment they have been anticipating for in a year: Takeru walking in the home with his older brother in tow. Safe and sound from the digital world and its seemingly unreal dangers.

Door knob turns, a light through the crack seeping into the dim room, only to be increased as it opened fully. The couple snapped their heads over to the door. Oh, how they wanted to stand! Oh, how they wanted to sprint over there and hug their precious, beautiful child! All at once, they could not due to the tense sense of excitement of seeing him once more.

In walked Takeru, yet the parents chose to ignore his presence as well as the grave look on his sweet, cute face. No, they instead focused on the one person they thought they would never see again: Matt. Their sweet, sensitive, and strong Matt!

Immediately getting the courage to stand up, the mother and father of Matt Ishida both ran up to him. The mother grabbed her dearly missed son in a tight embrace, the father pulled him out of her grasp and held him close.

"Matt.. Mattie, my sweet, sweet baby boy.. Oh my fucking god-I thought we'd never find you!" comes the muffled, cracking voice of the father as he holds his beloved son. This was only heard by Matt, due to the fact his father had said this with his face in his hair.

"I'm fine." came the dull and subdued voice of his precious son. The tone in his voice did not bother either parent at the moment. They were joyous to see their son again!

He soon let Matt go and allowed his mother to sit him gently on the couch so she could more easily kiss and hold him.

Tears were flowing from her eyes, "Matt! Oh god, Matt what happened? Who took you from us? Did they hurt you? How did it all happen?"

He was motionless and silent. He never once moved, he hadn't even so much as embraced his own parents back when he saw them again. No, he was still and calm. Almost blank and empty in a strange way, one could say..

Takeru took this time to speak up now, "Mom, dad.. Matt needs his rest. He hasn't slept in a day or two, I can only guess how exhausted he must be."

The father looked flabbergasted, the mother angered.

"TK, your brother just came back home! We need to see him, we need to know what happened, we need to know!" she yelled at her youngest child.

"I'm actually tired.." came the soft voice of the recently saved teenager.

This statement was not heard by his father, who sided with his former wife, "Matt just came home, back to us, TK. We are not letting him sleep now, not when we haven't seen our precious baby for so long."

"I am tired." comes the subdued voice yet again.

"Mom, dad listen to him! Ask him if he's tired or not!" right when they were about to counter back at their youngest son, they all heard a loud yawn coming from the child they had missed so dearly.

The father smiles a small smile; he had missed the little things such as his son's voice and yawn, "Matt, are you tired?"

The golden haired teenager nodded, "Really… Tired."

"Okay, let's get you to bed." with a hand underneath his knees and another holding his shoulder, he lifted up the exhausted teen bridal style. He then took his now noticeably lighter weight son into his old, untouched bedroom. "Goodnight Matt."

"Mm, goodnight, master."

The last sentence he had said was barely audible. That didn't mean his father did not hear it, though. He heard it all the same and needless to say, he was taken aback by it. He was about to turn around to exit the room when he saw his former wife standing in the doorway. Her eyes asked for an entrance into the room of her first born. He gave her a small nod, then she entered the room and stayed in there to be by her son's side. To be there when he woke up the next morn.

Mr. Ishida had exited the room and was now back in the living room where his youngest son was sitting on the floor. He wasn't doing much, just staring off into space. A look of confusion and sheer desperation on his features. He was not being himself tonight: something was horribly wrong.

He sat down next to his son and let out a small sigh, "Takeru, what is wrong?"

The younger blonde only let out a small groan as he told his father, "I… He's not.. Matt's not Matt anymore, dad. I don't like it.. I can't stand it. Where is my brother, dad? Is he out there somewhere?"

Hiroaki was now stunned. How could Takeru say this about his own brother? How could he not be happy over him coming home?

"TK, he's home. He's here, with us, and safe."

"..Then why does it feel like he's still gone?"

Morning could not have come sooner for Hiroaki! After what TK said the night before, he could not think of anything to respond with. All he could do was hold his son and let him silently cry a few tears. He then had him sleep on the couch, seeing as how Natsuko said she was staying, only to get underneath his covers for himself. He couldn't sleep till three in the morning.

He was ordering a breakfast meal from a take-out place in the city when he heard his ex-wife chuckling at him. He looked up and saw her gazing him in the eye, the smile she had on her face now met up with her eyes. Something he hadn't seen since Matt had gone missing.

"Still can't cook, huh?" she joked.

"Not worth shit! Mattie used to cook for me all the time.." he became silent at the thought of his son. It wasn't that he wasn't happy over him being home, it was all to do with this sickening feeling that he was not truly safe.

She gave him a small look, then sighed, "Matt is still sleeping…"

It felt awkward to talk of their once-missing child now. It almost felt strange, maybe even wrong in a weird way.

TK-thank the heavens for that kid-strode into the kitchen at that moment. His blue eyes were dim with despair. He still thought his brother wasn't there. How could he? With the way he had been acting all last night, there was no chance he was saved, let alone there.

He sat down on a chair in the dining room (which was only a short distance from the kitchen) before proceeding to tell them the awful, horrific truth of his elder brother's disappearance.

"Mom, dad, sit down. We need to talk about Matt. I need to tell you what happened." this bold proclamation couldn't have come at a better time. The instantly interested parents sat down at the table with their child and reluctantly, yet curiously, listened to what he had to tell them.

It was the mother who broke the ice with the damning question they wanted to, yet did not want to, ask, "What happened to Matt, Takeru?"

The blonde child was hesitant at first, but it all came out, "He was kidnapped.. Not by a digimon, but by a human.. A cruel, evil, sadistic human.. I don't know the actual ordeal he suffered through, but I can only guess it was something terrifying."

He stood up and began to walk over to Matt's room, the two concerned adults following suite. When they reached the sleeping teen's room, the adults thought nothing was initially wrong with Matt. Maybe Takeru had been simply overreacting or exaggerating. They assured themselves with this thought to distract themselves from thinking of any terrifying scenario which could have happened to their precious boy.

TK took a deep breath, then slowly lifted up his older brother's shirt and removed it from his body as gently as he could without waking him. The former couple gasped at the horrific sight: bruises all over their beautiful son's creamy pale skin, ten deep scars laced upon his upper arm, yet the worst was a dark red, angry burn mark which covered his wrist. The mother let out a cry, her eyes filling with tears. The father stared on; stunned at first, then filled with fury. Who would have done this to such a sweet, bright child? Who would have wanted to harm the light in their lives? It made no sense. It couldn't. It just wouldn't.

"Who.. Who did this to Matt? …Takeru, tell me! Who did this to my baby boy? Who would want to harm my child?" the father snapped as he saw his child flinch and whimper in his sleep.

Natsuko left the room, too frightened by what she saw to stay in there. All that was left in the room were TK, Matt, and Hiroaki Ishida. TK let out a small sigh, "It was the Digimon Kaiser."

(Author's Note: I hate to make him the bad guy, because I do love Ken, but I really wanted to write him as the Kaiser. Before you ask, I got the inspiration off of a show called 'Disappeared'. It's about people who go missing and are either found dead or not found at all. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys this story and gives it a shot. I hope I did a good job here, I am planning on putting out another chapter as soon as I can. Anyways, enjoy! I hope anyone or everyone who reads this likes it so far! Don't worry, chapter 2 will be longer and have more info on Matt's ordeal.)


	2. Chapter 2

Are You Still There?

Maybe it was the way Takeru had said the name like as if it was evil itself. Maybe it all had to do with the fact their son had bruises, scars, and burn marks dancing along his skin. If only they had known things would be this horrid! If only they knew the full story of what happened! If only they had saved him sooner.. For how were they supposed to know their kind, gentle son would not come back the same way he was before? How were they supposed to not think everything could just fall back into normalcy after all that happened?

One year. He had only been gone one year. In a world which is not supposed to be filled with evil sociopaths, cannibals, rapists, human traffickers, sadists, nor psychopaths like our own. One year. In one year spent in that supposedly safe world, he came out brutalized.

TK and his father exited the room, leaving the golden blonde teen to sleep. Natsuko, on the other hand, had left the apartment. She could not sit there and stand the sight of the son she loved so much being so harmed. She could not stand to see how anyone would hurt her baby. She could not understand, let alone grasp, the frightening thought: _My son was abused and tortured. _

Hiroaki was still livid, but he managed to calm himself down enough to ask Takeru about this 'Digimon Kaiser'. Who was he? What did he want with Matt? Why had he taken his beloved his son away and abuse him in that horrifying way?

"TK, who is he? ..Is he some type of digimon? What did he want with Matt? Why did he take him?" the father of the broken son is pleading for an answer, a conclusion of the nightmarish mystery.

Takeru let out a small huff of air and began to explain in a low, calm, and dark monotone: "He isn't a digimon... He's a human who I believe is either my age or older, and he's been terrorizing the digital world for some time now. He abuses the digimon and makes them into slaves with these Dark Rings. With the rings on, they obey his every command. He treats like them dirt and he has been trying to conquer their world to make into his own.. We don't know his name, but we do believe he took Matt to make us stop fighting off his efforts to save the digital world."

This still left too many unaswered questions rummaging through the mind of a worried father. If he is a human, then that means he can leave the digital world. Since he is human and they have no clue who he is, this also means he could come back for his precious son. If he chooses to come back for Matt, that is. Paranoia was now setting in; he had to stay home. He had to protect his son at all costs! He was not going to lose him again.

Hiroaki then saw a few tears slipping out of his youngest son's eye. He had an assumption as to why he was crying. He lost his brother for a year, only to get him back physically, but emotionally he's not there. Hiroaki then realizes the way they had all been thinking before was naive. Matt coming home would not make everything return to normal. Matt's rescue and return would not leave him untaumatized. No, things will never be the way they once were. Things will never be stabilized. Things will never be normal ever again.

"TK, how did you save him? How did you find him?" he asks before wrapping his arms around the youngest child; realizing he needed comfort in such a heartbreaking time.

Takeru looked up to his dad's eyes as he spoke weakly, "We had...we had to agree to let the Digimon Kaiser take control of some areas in the digital world so long as he would give us Matt back. That's the deal he first made with us, when Matt first went missing. Tai refused and Davis.. Davis went beserk over the idea! I wanted to agree to it, but they wouldn't let it happen.. Dad, I was never more scared in my life. I thought Matt was going to die."

At this last statement, the youngest child broke down in his father's supportive arms. He could not stop the tears from flowing; the thought of a dead brother frightened him to no end. When he had first seen Matt's bruises and scars, he knew his idol was now weakened. He knew his idol had gone through the depths of hell itself. How he survived, he never knew.

Muttering sweet nothings in an attempt to calm the youngest child, Hiroaki was now lost himself. How was he supposed to protect his precious baby boy if they had no idea who the kidnapper was in real life? How was he supposed to prevent this from happening again?

"What happened the day he went...missing? How did this all happen?"

Takeru was now lost in a haze of a memory. A memory which was a mix of what went wrong and what should have never happened. A memory which has been haunting him, no, taunting him in his dreams for one year. The entire year his brother was missing.

_Davis, Matt, and TK were all trying to fight off two strong, Dark Ring controlled Greymon in an usually calm forest. They were not letting up, yet when ExVeemon and Angemon were starting to gain an upper hand, things were starting look for them. The only thing which set Matt and Garurumon off was the Digimon Kaiser himself, sitting upon a Dark Ring controlled Birdramon, watching the fight below. Watching, almost if enjoying this brute violence. Almost as if he himself was getting a sick, twisted, dark pleasure out of it. _

_This set them off on a rage. Whilst TK and Davis were handling the two Greymon by themselves with no problems at all, Matt decided to knock the smug look right off of the Kaiser's face himself. _

_"Garurumon! Attack the Birdramon!" Garurumon got a small grin on his face; for he too wanted to attack the pompous looking Kaiser. "Let's do it! Howling Blaster!" _

_The blue fames hit the unexpecting Birdramon on contact and the Kaiser himself almost fell off the large, majestic bird creature. He did not, though, due to the face he had been holding to the Birdramon with his tightest grip. One could suspect he was hurting the digimon, but the Kaiser did not care. No, all he cared about was punishing the bastard who dared attack him. _

_Yes, he was furious when he almost fell. Thus causing him to do the logical thing, "Birdramon! Attack the worthless mutt!" _

_The Meteor Wing had the wolf creature rapidly dodging each attack as it came. Yet, before he could once again attack the pained creature in the sky, he had been hit. _

_TK and Angemon had never intended to attack Garurumon. It all occured on a fault; the Greymon had moved out of the way and Garurumon had been hit by the attack intended for the T-Rex creature. This was the hardest part for TK to accept. This was the part where the things that had just gone wrong, changed to should have never happened. _

_Garurumon was knocked out cold, and Matt had ran over to his digimon to assure his safety. _

_"Garurumon! Are you alright? Get up, please, get up." the mid-tone grey blue eyed teen begged the wolf digimon. _

_All he got for a response was Garurumon pushing him out of the way with his paw as the Birdramon attacked him once more. Matt was on the ground, a small line of blood coming out of a newly made wound. Garurumon had pushed him too hard and caused him to scrape his left leg. Matt sat himself up as fast as he could to get over to his friend. Why would anyone do this? Why did he want to do this so badly? It was something only Matt himself knew. _

_"Matt, run.. This is all a set-up... RUN!" his loyal Garurumon screamed out to him weakly as he started to approach him. Matt froze for a moment, quickly thinking over what he had just said. "I can't leave you to get hurt!" the defiant blonde countered back. _

_Garurumon growled lowly at him, "Matt, I'll be fine! You can't protect everyone all the time, you can't save everyone alive! How can you do such things if you can't protect or save yourself first? Just run, Matt!" _

_Matt gave his Garurumon a reluctant nod as he turned around and ran into the forest to escape the battle scene. TK, on the other hand, had already defeated the Greymon he had been fighting and was concerned for his brother's safety. For he knew when Garurumon said to run, that meant something bad coming for Matt. He was no longer weak. He no longer needed to depend on Matt so much. Therefore, he thought it his mission to protect his brother now, the way he had protected him for so long. _

_"Angemon! We need to go check up on Matt! Garurumon told him to run for a reason." the tanned blonde told the angelic digimon. _

_Angemon look startled at first. How could TK bring up abandoning Davis only to check up on Matt? This made no sense to him: true, ExVeemon could up a Greymon perfectly fine on his own, but leaving him in the middle of battle to run after Matt seemed unreasonable. It even seemed a bit unnecessary, given the situation at hand. The moment he saw the Kaiser was no longer watching the battle and gone from the area, he knew something was wrong. _

_"..Alright, we'll go check up on Matt. Only because the Kaiser is no longer watching us fight." the Angemon said firmly as Takeru nodded. The eleven year old led the way into the forest, his feet carrying him at a pace which could match up with Davis's and easily compare to Tai's. In the midst of this running, his mind had gone blank. He knew in his being something was wrong. He knew something bad was going to happen to his brother if he didn't hurry up. _

_What he saw when he came to a clearing in the forest made his heart stop almost stop beating, his throat dry up, and his mouth open in shock. _

_The Digimon Kaiser on his Birdramon, holding his unconscious brother. In what felt like slow motion, Takeru immediately ran up to the Kaiser with Angemon in tow and shouted out a, "What did you do to my brother? Let him go!" _

_The Kaiser sneered at the small blonde, "Come on, then. Come closer, I dare you.. For if you do, then I will snap your brother's neck!" _

_Takeru froze as he saw the Kaiser put his hands on his brother's neck, ready to snap it. "TK, there's nothing you can do to.." Angemon started before being cut off. _

_"I know.. I can't do anything.. Nothing at all to save my brother.." he mumbled out first, then got a bit louder when he noticed something on his brother's arm, "What did you do to him? Is that a dart on his arm!" _

_The indigo haired emperor let out a small chuckle, "It's a sleeping dart. It was the only way I could subdue this pretty little thing.. He is, after all, so fiesty." _

_Takeru was starting to shake with rage. How dare this thug have the very nerve to do such a thing to his brother! How dare he speak of him in such a disgusting way! It made the younger blonde sick with the thoughts of the Kaiser having a strange crush on his big brother. _

_Angemon put his strong hand on Takeru's shoulder. "TK, don't let him rile you up.." _

_Then the Kaiser did the unthinkable; he kissed his brother right in front of him. Not just a peck on the cheeks or lips. No, it was a full blown kiss with his tongue sliding gracefully down into his unconscious brother's mouth. _

_"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" the blue eyed child screamed out, "Don't you dare touch my brother this way! I mean it, thug! Touch him one more time and I'll break your neck!" _

_The Kaiser grinned, "Why, am I doing something wrong? I was only kissing my newest...addition to my world. Besides, by the end of it all, he'll be mine and mine only." _

_Takeru snapped. No one was allowed to say such wrong things about his older brother. No one was allowed to speak of him in a manner which demeaned him as an object. He charged full speed at the area where Birdramon was hovering above; ready to beat the life out of the person who dared to do said things to his older brother. _

_Right when he was close, he felt two strong arms wrap themselves around his waist. Feeling angered even more, he glared up to see who it was. The moment it was Angemon, he tried to calm himself. He really did. _

_"Angemon, let me go! He's touching Matt! I need to stop this and save him!" Angemon let out a sigh. _

_"TK you can't! He'll kill Matt, remember? We need to bargain with him.. We need to make a deal so he'll let Matt go." Takeru glared at Angemon for a moment, then sighed in defeat. Angemon took this as sign telling him he'd have to do it himself. _

_"Kaiser, what do you want in place of Matt? Why did you take him? Why do you want him?" he inquired of the cruel boy on the Birdramon. _

_The pale, indigo haired boy smirked an evil smirk. "I want him because he's so...hm, what's the word for it? Beautiful? Pretty? Cute? ..No, sexy. He's sexy, and he has been in a few inappropriate dreams of mine ever since I first laid eyes on him. I only took him because he's mine; I claimed him ever since I first saw him. As for your little, pathetic deal attempt, I'll tell you this.. In order to get Matt back, you will have to let me conquer three main areas in the digital world without any interruptions from you or the rest of you digi-brats. Understand?" _

_Takeru snarled as the Kaiser spoke of his brother in such a perverted tone. Angemon did not loosen his grip nonetheless; not even in his state of shock over the deal the Kaiser had proposed. _

_"No! We won't let that happen!" he shouted angrily at the smug boy. _

_He then sighed dramatically, "Oh well.. I guess you won't get Matt back then. I'll just have to keep him as mine." _

_"NO! Angemon, we have to agree! I can't let him take Matt!" Takeru argued with his digimon. _

_"TK, we can't risk it! Listen, we'll get Matt back from him, I promise. We cannot let this happen." Angemon reasoned; knowing Takeru's fear of losing his brother to such a perverted person and understanding his concern over him. _

_Takeru hung his head in defeat. Angemon was right: for they could not let him conquer three main areas of the digital world. It would be giving the Kaiser too much control and could cause him to fully dominate the digital world in a way he hadn't before._

_"No deal, Kaiser." Takeru replied venomously, "We won't let that happen. Not now or ever!"_

_He got a sick grin on his face, Takeru knew he wouldn't like what he heard next, "Alright then, great for me! I have my little prize all to myself at last." _

_Takeru was now filled with fury as he struggled to escape Angemon's grasp. He was so filled with this fury, he did not notice the Kaiser telling the Birdramon to attack them. When the Birdramon did attack them, it almost hit the digimon and Takeru spot on. They were on the ground, Takeru finally being able to slide out of Angemon's grasp, right at the moment when Birdramon was starting to fly away._

_Takeru could not control his rage anymore. He took off running after the bird and the Kaiser, but the Birdramon was faster. Angemon had caught up with Takeru at this point and was already by his side when some Dark Ring controlled digimon came out to attack him. Angemon did his best to finish the fight as quickly as he could, for Takeru's sake. He knew he needed to see his brother. He knew he needed to save him._

_After a final, swift move he was done, "TK, I'll fly up to see if I can still see them." _

_Takeru nodded and the angel digimon was now in the sky searching for the Kaiser and his brother. Takeru could only hope and pray that Matt was still there, still near. Still able to be saved. As he was waiting, David and Veemon solemnly approached him. The blue eyed boy was now positive that things were only going to get worse from here on out. _

_"Davis? Veemon.. Something is wrong, isn't it?" Takeru asked in slight despair; for he knew when his companions were not acting like their loud, hyperactive, cheery selves things were horribly out of place. _

_Davis didn't meet Takeru's eyes. He was too saddened, but enraged all at once, over what he had been told. _

_Surprisingly enough, it was a weak Gabumon who approached them and told Takeru what he had told Davis and Veemon. _

_"The Kaiser... I heard from a spy wearing a fake Dark Ring that he had been...having these, um.. Wrong thoughts of him and would watch him from his palace. He did not tell me when or how, but he told me that he was planning an attack to distract everyone and weaken me so he could take Matt away. Once he did this, he would take Matt away and try to blackmail us. I told Matt to run when I got hit because I knew that moment would have been perfect for the Kaiser to take him. If he takes Matt... There's a good chance we won't get him back." the saddened digimon gravely explained to the group, "The Kaiser's lust for him is too strong.. Once he has him, he'll refuse to let him go. He'll do anything and everything to keep him in his life." _

_Takeru was shaking from rage, disappointment, sadness, shock.. He took it out on a tree with a fierce punch to it's bark. "Matt!" he shouted out, helplessness washing over him in it's cold wave, "Matt, please, wake up! Matt, you need to save yourself! Matt!" _

_He kept punching the tree, "Matt.. Matt! Come back please! Matt!" The eleven year old blonde was breaking down. He could feel the oxygen exiting his lungs without any way to re-enter. He could feel that harsh crash of the wave of helplessness completely take control. _

_"Matt.." the blue eyed child said quietly as he knelt to the ground emotionlessly. Angemon had already dedigivolved back to Patamon upon his return. Silently, he got on the ground next to Takeru. Takeru kept his head hung as he asked almost inaudibly, "...Did you see them? Were you able to save Matt?" _

_Patamon was silent as he got on Takeru's lap, "I'm sorry." _

_That was the first time in a long time Takeru had cried out so loudly. That was the first time in a long time he had a breakdown so severe, they had to leave the digital world to calm him down. _

Takeru let out a shaky breath, tears slowly seeping out of his eyes, "I...should have been stronger, dad! I could have saved him, but I didn't. I'm a horrible brother, I couldn't even save Matt when he needed me to!"

His father kept a tight grip on him; shocked at what he had heard. The fact that the person who had taken his precious baby boy used a sleeping dart on him was low. The fact that this person was having sexual thoughts of his son disturbed him. Matt couldn't have been.. No, not his baby boy. Not his kind, good-natured son. This could not have happened to him. It just simply couldn't. The very idea of it alone was impossible to conceive. The very sound of some random person, thinking such thoughts about his baby boy, made him almost mad.

"You were strong. You tried everything to save him.." the older man told his son, "You did nothing wrong, TK. You were just a little scared of him dying, that's understandable. I'm glad Angemon stopped you from making a rash decision which could have ended his life."

Takeru was silent yet again, the words seeping into his head. After a minute of silently being comforted by his father's embrace, he broke it. All so he could ask, "Why do I feel like as if I let him down?"

"You didn't.." he was cut off by his youngest son, "I can't stay here, dad. Not when he's like this. He's not the same Matt anymore.. He has become a slave. A slave to fear, a slave to silence, a slave to the Kaiser.. I just...cannot be around him when he's like this. This is not my brother; this is not our Mattie.. I'm sorry dad."

Hiroaki let out a nod, said a small 'goodbye' as Takeru left the apartment. Reality soon settled in as he realized he was home alone with Matt. He was here with his precious baby boy for the first time in one year. Before he could celebrate this occasion, however, he was interrupted with the presence of his once-missing child in the room.

"Matt, come on.. Let's eat." he said to the golden blonde child as he went over to answer the door for the take-out.

The silent golden blonde teen nodded, speaking in a subdued voice, "Yes Master."

(Author's Note: Okay, so you got more of what happened to Matt. Yet, there will be more to come in the next chapter.. For now, though, I would love to thank everyone and everyone who reads this story, likes this story, and has left a review on it. I hope this is working out well. I am doing my best to capture the mentality of the family who had to deal with their son missing and soon, I'm hoping to capture all the moments which triggered Matt physcologically to be the way he is now. I hope I didn't do too bad on the digimon fighting scene! Fighting scenes are not necessarily my best, so I'm just hoping it doesn't come out blotchy, poorly done, or embarassingly bad. Thank you to Sumi19 for your review! I'm glad you the idea of this story and my writing style, I am constantly working to improve it, so I'm glad to hear this. Don't worry, I'm working on chapter three now. So expect it to be up soon. :) )


	3. Chapter 3

No Longer Mine

Mr. Ishida had finished paying the delivery guy who brought in the breakfast meal when he tried to talk to Matt. He had so many questions to ask: What happened? What is his name? Why did he hurt you? Are you okay? Are you still scared? The list goes on, it never ends. Then again, the older man had thought this whole year without his son would never end. Yet here he was, one year later, right in front of his precious boy. Excited, saddened, enraged, curious, confused, helpless, lost, happy… All of these could be used to describe him as he approached his son and sat down next to him on the living room couch.

The TV was on, no one was talking, and yet he felt like he had been sitting next to a mannequin rather than a person. For there sat Matt, his beloved son, with a blank face and expressionless eyes.. Lifeless eyes, in a way, is what they truly portrayed. He took a cautious breath as he soothingly said, "Mattie, you want the omelet or the breakfast sandwich?"

The mid tone grey blue eyed teen just remained still. Okay, so maybe he was not hungry? That would be understandable after the ordeal he had gone through. Whatever it was which he had gone through, that is. They could only guess he had been tortured in some way or another. Only vague guesses and assumptions at this point, nothing really concrete to give them any hope of help for the rescued son.

"Okay, so you're not hungry.. How are things for you, Matt? Are you in the least bit happy to see me? Did you miss us? How did you escape from the Kaiser?" the eager father tried once more to get some kind of response from his son.

All he got was silence in response. At this, he was starting to feel desperation. How was he to communicate to his son if he didn't even so much as move when he spoke to him?

"Mattie, talk to me please! I haven't seen you in a year, I missed you, I was worried about you, I-I…god Matt, I cried myself to sleep thinking you were dead! Please, talk to me. Say something, say anything you please, just speak." he begged the child who was once lost, but now found.

The golden blonde boy looked over at his begging father, and with a small, soft voice finally spoke, "I'm not allowed to speak unless if you permit me to, master. So, do I have your permission to speak or not?"

His father could let out a sigh of joy, but at the same time, was once again confused. Why was he calling him 'master'? Why was he asking him for permission to speak or not? It all made no sense, then again, nothing did the moment he found out the truth of his precious son's disappearance.

Shocked and concerned at what he had heard, Hiroaki asked, "Yes, you do have my permission to speak whenever you please, but Mattie, why are you calling me 'master'?"

Matt was silent for a moment or two, trying to think of a reason as to why he was calling this man 'master' when his real one was back in the digital world. Why was he calling him 'master'? This man is not his master. This man is not his Kaiser. This man is not king of the digital world.

"I…don't know. Maybe it's just a force of habit? I don't know, master. I really don't.." he said plainly in response to the concerned father sitting right beside him. The golden blonde teen then quickly asked, "Master, can I have some food?"

Hiroaki nodded and could only watch in silence as his son scarfed down the breakfast sandwich and ate the entire omelet. The only thought coming through his mind being, _Mattie, my sweet, sweet Mattie.. What did the Kaiser do to make you this way? Why would he want to hurt you? Why? _

"Master, can I have a drink?" came the voice of his child, pulling him out of his thoughts and back in the reality of the moment. He turned to look at his son; eyes almost filled with liquid otherwise known as tears. He loathed the name 'master'. He did not want to share the same title that dreaded, evil Kaiser has. He did not want to be viewed as a master over a slave.

Silent at first, he then broke down for the first time in that one year. He finally broke down after a year of his good-hearted, oldest child went missing and was near hysterics. Why he was breaking down is all too simple to answer.. He is not 'master'.

"Mattie, please, don't call me that anymore. I'm your father: call me dad, daddy, papa, pops, father... Just don't call me master! I'm not master! I'm your father. Matt, who made you this way? Who could break you down so badly?" Hiroaki was now breaking down completely as the tears fell faster than a cannonball from his eyes. He was now reaching his limit with this. He wanted Matt back so badly, but it is almost as if he never came back. Almost as if he's not his precious baby boy anymore.

Hiroaki let out a loud cry as he held who he believed to be his son in his arms and broke down sobbing. Who is this person he's holding? Is he even Matt anymore? Did they really get back the real Matt and not some clone? It was all starting to tear him apart to no end. "I-I thought.. Nevermind...father." is all his boy said to him. It was all that needed to be said. For this moment was one which was damned to happen. How could he have gone so long without his baby boy? How did he even survive that year in which he was gone?

He soon heard his missed son ask, "Mas-I mean, father, can I go back to my room now? I'm feeling tired."

"Sure Mattie, you can do anything you please. Just promise me you won't go back to the digital world for a month or two, okay?" he attempted to bargain with his son, all to assure his safety and ensure that he would not go running back to the Kaiser.

_Go...back? Master said he would find me and save me if I even dared leave the safety of our home! I don't need to go back; Master will find me. _the mid tone grey blue eyed teen was confident in his thought, but answered with a humble, "Yes, father."

This bargain being made, the thin teen went back to his room and closed his eyes; the power of sleeping overcoming him. The memory of his first night with his master ringing in his mind.

_When Matt was hit with a sleeping dart, all he remembered was seeing a Birdramon and the Digimon Kaiser. Here he was now; in a small room, bound onto a bed with tightened leather straps. He struggled to get his hands free, yet it was to no avail. He was going to be stuck there for a while. He groaned loudly; great, Tai wouldn't let him live this down. Where was he? Was it really the Kaiser who took him? If so, why? Why would he want him? _

_All of his questions would be answered as the Kaiser himself entered the room with an air of arrogance about himself. He grinned at Matt with the devil's grin as he boldly stated, "Hello sleeping beauty, did you have a nice rest?" _

_Matt growled lowly at the Kaiser. There was nothing he hated more than being compared to a girl! "It would have been better if I wasn't bound to the bed." _

_The Kaiser let out a chuckle as he got on the bed and straddled the defenseless blonde, "Mm, but I like you this way, though. It only makes perfect sense to keep you this way. Besides, you're my new addition to this world which is so close to being perfected. Just think sweetie, soon you'll be mine forever." _

_Now Matt was starting to get more annoyed and angry all at once, "I'm not your property. I never have been and I never will be." _

_What he felt was a burning, painful sensation on his face in response. It took him a moment to realize the Kaiser himself had punched him. He glared at the Kaiser with his mid tone grey blue eyes. Fire was burning inside them, taking on the form of rebellion. Oh, how the Kaiser loved it! This only made it a challenge for him and he loved challenges more than anything. Especially ones that had do to with the object of his affections for so long, Matt Ishida. Now he had him and the fun could begin. _

_He chuckled yet again, "Sweetie, you are my property. I've claimed you to be ever since I first saw you. So do me a favor and start obeying my rules if you wish to survive in my world." _

_The indigo haired Kaiser then leaned down, giving the blonde a forceful, lust-filled kiss. He forced his tongue inside as he let his hands roam the upper body of his new sweetheart. Yet there was something wrong; the blonde was not kissing him back. If of anything, he barely moved. It was almost as if he had been paralyzed in shock. The Kaiser grinned. This is what he had hoped for, after all. What he was not expecting was the blonde beauty biting his tongue. _

_He got off his beauty as quickly as he could the moment the devillish beauty freed his tongue. Light violet eyes glared angrily into the mid tone grey blue. He got off the blonde as he screamed, "Wormmon! Bring in the Palmon! We need to teach this little devil not to disobey his master." _

_The two Dark Ring controlled Palmon entered the room a few seconds later as Wormmon opened the leather straps which had confined Matt to the bed. Using their Poison Ivy attack, they had the defiant blonde tied up in their vines, unable to escape. The Kaiser smirked; the sight of the rebellious blonde tied up in vines only seemed to make him look that more delectable than what he had been in the leather straps on the bed. _

_"We're going to the whipping room; carry him and follow me. You know the drill and how things are done when we get in there." he instructed firmly. They nodded, not saying a word for they knew the punishment if they spoke without permission. They had left the room and walked down a flight of spiral stairs. On the bottom of the final step, there were two doors. One on the right wall and one on the left. There was no hall; only a dead end in the darkened palace with it's deep, blue grey walls and steps. The only thing light were the strange, single florescent bulbs which only seemed to be there to give it an eery glow. The doors were a medium grey steel, they almost looked like prison doors for the cells of convicted, crazed serial killers. _

_The moment the Kaiser opened the door on the right wall, Matt knew this was going to be the room he was going to despise the most. He was soon ushered in the room by the Palmon carrying him. They set him on the ground, stripped him of his blazer and shirt, then placed his hands in the cuffs bolted on the wall. His face was to the wall, his legs were free, back facing the Kaiser. His heart was racing. How was he to know the crazed emperor would not try to kill him? How was he to believe he would not have digimon attack him? _

_Yes. For the first time in his life, Matt Ishida was truly scared. He had no clue what was going to happen to him. He had no idea if he would come out alive or not. He had no idea on anything at this point. _

_His ideas and thought processes were all thrown array by a surge powerful pain and a loud cry. The Kaiser was whipping him with an actual whip. He tried to get out of the silver, shiny, pretty cuffs on the wall, but could not so much as slide his wrist in them. He was near tears as the Kaiser kept whipping him; each crack of the whip on his bare, pale, beautiful skin creating hideous scars and causing small lines of painful blood to come out. The pain was like an electric shock surging into the depths of his skin and being activated into the rest of the body. _

_"Please, stop! I won't do it again! I won't, just stop!" he begged as loudly as he could; tears of pain threatening to come out of his eyes. The Kaiser did not listen, nor did he relent on the cruel whippng. He kept going till Matt could no longer beg nor scream. _

_All he could do was breathe shakily as the cruel king released him from the cuffs. He fell onto the floor; his legs tired and weakened from standing for too long. He looked up into the cold light violet eyes and saw nothing there. The blonde was then given his shirt and green blazer back. _

_"Put it on." the Kaiser said to him, "Or do you need another lesson in obedience again?" _

_A horrified look in his eyes, the blonde's hands trembled as he took the blazer and shirt. He then looked at the Kaiser, a blush of embarrassment on his cheeks, "I.. Can you turn around, please? I'm not...comfortable getting dressed in front of someone else." _

_Light violet eyes glared a dagger into the blonde's mid tone eyes as he lifted up his fist and hit him as hard as he could. _

_"I said, 'put it on'. I didn't say I had to turn around, I said 'put it on'. It's a simple command for which anyone can do! What is so fucking hard for you to understand about it?" he shrieked at his beauty as he picked up the whip yet again and whipped him one more time. "Put it on!" _

_The golden haired boy nodded his head, "Yes...sir, right away." _

_The Kaiser rolled his eyes in annoyance as he roughly grabbed the golden blonde hair and tilted his head up so he could see his face. He then hit his beauty right in the eye. He hadn't meant to; for his beauty was pushing his limits and talking too much. Matt, however, had never been punched so hard in his entire life. Not even the bullies at school or Tai ever punched him that hard. Needless to say, he was shaken by it. _

_"Stop your shaking and quivering! You know what? For not obeying the first time around, you won't be able to put these back on." the emperor ripped his shirt and blazer from his hands, stuffing it into his pocket. "Palmon! Use your Poison Ivy attack on him and bring him up to his room. Tie him down to the bed with the leather straps; I'll be in there shortly." _

_They nodded as they once again used their Poison Ivy attack on the weakened blonde. The trip back to his room was silent: one thought only going through his mind being, 'How was I not supposed to shake and quiver? I have never been hit that hard, let alone fucking whipped. How else was I to react, especially since he could have killed me if he wanted to? How else was I to be? Just calm and peaceful? How?' _

_They set him down on the bed and tied him there with the leather straps. He laid there still, for his legs hurt from being forced to stand due to his wrists being cuffed to the wall during the whipping. The blonde was about to shut his eyes and sleep when he heard the door open. His heart started racing as the worst case scenarios came into his mind. Instead, there was Wormmon; sitting at the end of his bed, giving him a sad, disdained look. _

_After a moments silence, the worm creature begged the blonde teen, "Please, don't make Master Ken angry. He'll only hurt you more.. No one deserves what you got, Matt. Please, obey him...it's the only way to survive being here with him." _

_Matt contemplated the words of the small, defenseless digimon. All he could say was, "I don't think I can.. I won't give up till I'm out of here, Wormmon. We can't give up hope: it's the only thing we have to pull us through this. I won't quit till I'm out of here." _

_The kind-hearted, good-natured digimon let out a loud, sad sigh. He supposed the teen with the mid tone grey blue eyes would have to learn the hard way.. _

_"Give up your hope. It'll hurt less when he breaks you in the future." _

_He would never understand what the little digimon was getting at, yet he would soon learn the hard way about it in the future months to come. He would later on regret not taking his advice or even so much as not believing him when he said the Kaiser would break him. He would regret a lot of things, most of which did not need regrets to begin with. _

_The little worm left the room, leaving the blonde teen in silence. He soon fell asleep, but only to wake an hour later to see the Kaiser putting a Dark Ring on his wrist. _

_"What are you doing?" he shouted; terrified of the answer he was about to hear. _

_"Simple: giving you a new bracelet.. It looks so lovely on you, sweetie. Plus, it will help you be more obedient to me." the blonde's mid tone eyes widened in shock. He thought Dark Rings were only for digimon! _

_"Why are you putting a Dark Ring on me, you sick fuck!" he demanded of the Kaiser, shock and rage overcoming the fear of being whipped again. _

_The Kaiser smiled, "It's not a Dark Ring per say, it's just a bracelet. One to help you obey me better. Oh and another thing sweetie.." he gripped the blonde's arm tightly; the blonde teen would never forget the pain in his arm. It was as if the blood circulation was being cut off completely, and yet it also felt as if the Kaiser was trying to literally snap the bone in half. The pain mounted and Matt let out a moan of pain, the emperor grinned as he kissed his lips, "Call me 'master'. Master Ken." _

_He let go of his arm and as the mid tone grey blue eyed let out a breath of relief, the light violet eyed emperor then inquired, "Got it...sweetheart?" _

_Matt nodded as he replied with a small, "Yes...yes Master Ken." _

Matt awoke from the memory and began to breathe in quick, short pants. He looked around and saw his walls of his old room; the vibrant color, the light.. Something he had not seen in a year, yet felt strange to be in. He was so used to his master's room for him, after all. He glanced around the room, almost feeling a sense of comfort in everything he saw. Yet, he could not feel it. All he could feel was a disattachment to it all. A disattachment from the place he called home, a place he once called his own. It was no longer his. It couldn't be; nothing could be complete without his master.

'_No longer mine.. Nothing here is mine anymore.._' is all the broken blonde teen could think as he pulled his knees to his chest and laid his head down on them. Tears slipped out of his eyes. Tears for his master. '_I'm sorry master, please... Find me.._'

(Author's Note: Sorry if this took a while to get out! I had to update my other story I'm working on.. Anyways, I hope this flashback did a good job on portraying what Matt went through during his first day with the Kaiser. I just don't want it to be...cheesy.. So, yeah, I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone who reads this, everyone who has reviewed it so far, and everyone who likes it. I hope I'm doing a good job at portraying an illness and the effects kidnapping has on a family, as I feel it is often overlooked in a lot of the shows which documents kidnappings or even talks of them. Thank you to Jadma24 for your review, I'm glad you think this is a great story and I'm overjoyed that you can't wait to read more! I hope this chapter is just as good for you as the last was. Poor Matt, he did go through a lot, but hate to say it, as the memories are put out more, it will only get worse.. Just a heads up for you on that one. Anywhoo, enjoy the story! I will be glad if you did. :) )


	4. Chapter 4

Sweet Lullaby

Matt had gone through one week without his master. One week without his master Ken to tell him what to do. One week without his master Ken to kiss him. One week without his master's presence. He was a wreck after only one week without his master. He could not sleep well at nights, he could not eat, he could not function without his master. He needed him.

He sighed a deep sigh, thoughts coming back into his mind of his third week at master's place. It had not been as bad as the first night.. In his mind, it was justifiably better. In all reality, it all depends on how one chooses to look at it.

_Matt has been the Kaiser's kidnap victim for the past three weeks. Now, in three weeks, the Kaiser had expected the golden haired teen to become more obedient. Instead he seemed to only become slightly more rebellious. _

"_Hello, sweetie. Happy to see me?" he asked boldly as he entered his new love's room. _

_The blonde teen with the mid-tone grey blue eyes snapped, "I'm not your fucking sweetie! I don't ever want to see you again and when my friends find me, I'll kick your fucking pompous ass!" _

_How could he not be expected to snap? After all, the whippings had only increased from that one time when he first came to at least four each day. If his 'master' was not in the mood for whippings, then he would usually beat on him with either his fists or have him tied to the ground so he could stomp on him. That and coupled with the fact he was stuck in this tiny room with no window, only a bed and a joint bathroom. He hadn't seen sunlight for three weeks. He hadn't been outside for three weeks. He hadn't seen his friends nor heard from his family! How was he to not snap? _

_The Kaiser took this all as a joke. He was laughing at the blonde's threat. He was mocking his little useless words with a sharp, "Ha! You and both know they won't find you, sweetie! Face it, you're mine, whether you like it or not. Oh and your digivice? That won't be any help. You see, sweetie, I told your friends I would give you back to them, no strings attached.. Yet, they were weak-minded enough to believe me! Ha, oh my god, they think they're getting you back-even though they are not! No, all they'll get back is your digivice." _

_Matt's eyes widened in disbelief. His friends had not bought it, had they? Were they really trusting a deal made with the Kaiser? _

"_Lying.. You're lying!" the golden blonde shouted at the Kaiser as he laughed at him some more. _

"_Sweetie, you're so damn cute when you're mad.. It's like a little, newborn kitten who just opened their eyes for the first time.. Adorable, mean, hissing, yet totally weak and defenseless." _

_That was all it took to make the blonde snap more. Due to the fact his 'master' had been kind enough to not strap him down in his own room, he was free to move. This freedom would be used, of course, by the blonde on the smug emperor himself. _

_He charged at him, about to attack him. Fist raised in the air, ready to hit it's intended target. All thwarted by a sharp, long, searing pain through his body. He screamed out as loudly as his lungs could permit him to. If he could have been louder, he would have, for the pain of this strange short of electricity shooting throughout his thin body was unbearable. _

_The moment the pain stopped, he fell on his knees before falling fully on the ground. The indigo haired Kaiser was now wearing a pleased and prideful look on his face. Ah, so his invention did work on humans as well! Interestingly enough, to him at least, this seemed to have the exact effect he desired.. "Well, well sweetheart; looks like you hurt yourself with this little 'rebellion' of yours.. Don't you know or even so much as grasp the fact? No one says 'no' to me nor do they disobey me. Digimon and humans." _

_The mid-tone grey blue eyed teen was now feeling a wave of sudden light headedness as the pain stopped searing through his body. He now felt so weakened up to the point where it was almost as if he could not lift a ten pound weight. _

"_What…Why… What did you do to me, you sick fuck? Why do I feel so weak?" he inquired of the ingenious Kaiser. _

_He grinned a manic grin, "Simple: the little bracelet on your wrist is a Dark Ring I made especially for you.. Only for you, sweetie." he kissed the blonde's lips as he continued on, "It drains you of your physical strength and leaves you defenseless, unable to fight me. I would have loved to see your shirtless form again, but darling I can't whip you every time you screw things up through your disobedience." _

_Matt snarled at the emperor, "Don't…kiss me." _

"_I can do as I please, darling.." chuckling, he then went on to say, "If you fight me or get too violent with me, you'll be shocked and you'll be weaker than what you are now. If I were you, I wouldn't fight with me or my demands. Obey me and you won't get hurt again." _

_Leaning in closer to the blonde's face, he kissed him one more time. This kiss carrying a sick, sadistic tone with a heavy undertone of pure, maddening, evil lust with no intention of ever having real love or affection for the mid-tone eyed teen. _

"_Why? Why do you kiss me? Why do you call me 'sweetheart' or 'sweetie'? Is this all a game to you?" he asked as the Kaiser pulled away. _

_He chuckled lowly before pecking the blonde on the cheek, "I love you, Matt. I love you more than you know.." _

_This being said and done, he left his sweetheart alone in his small room. The golden haired boy sighed as he sat up and pulled his knees to his chest. He could not believe what had just happened. He was not fast enough-no, not strong enough to save himself from the Kaiser. He could not even lay a finger on him in the intent of harm. That's when the sudden realization hit him.. _

'_If they don't find me in a month, they'll never find me at all. Without my digivice to show them where I'm at, how will they find me? They don't even know the Kaiser has a palace! They don't even know the first place to look.. I'm screwed. I'm so, so utterly screwed if they don't find me in a month.. I need to get out of here myself. I need to! I have to..' _

_Just at the thought of it, he let out a groan. It sounds easy and yet it's nothing but. For one thing, he has to convince his 'master' into letting him out of his room without any supervision from the Kaiser himself. He would then have to have Wormmon or someone else willing to rebel against the Kaiser (which would be near impossible to find here) in order to help him get out of the palace. _

_His current state of weakness did not help him any better. He is in a current state where he cannot run far nor even so much as fight back against the Kaiser or anyone else who serves him. Yes, he was royally screwed if his friends did not find him in a month. _

_As he was planning his escape, Wormmon entered the room silently, but at the same time happy. He did not show his happiness but it was felt in his presence as he gracefully strode into the small, rather cramped, room. He saw Matt sitting down on the floor, knees up to his chest. Following his instincts, he went up to the blonde. _

"_Hello, Matt. How is Master Ken treating you?" he asked the silent teen casually. _

_Matt sighed in response, "He's… Well, Wormmon, he's been-" _

_He was cut off by the worm digimon, "I'm glad you're here, Matt. You see, he used to whip me all the time for no apparent reasoning other than to vent out his frustrations. He never means to be cruel, he just does not understand how to deal with his overwhelming emotions at times." _

"_Wormmon.." _

"_Please stay! He's been so much kinder to me and everyone else around here. Something about you just seems to make him better.. Gentler.. Please, please stay. My scars are finally fading and he hasn't yelled at me for three weeks. Please.. Please stay.." the little worm digimon was begging the now-weakened teen. He sighed and could only say, "I'll do my best to stay.." _

"_Thank you! Oh, if I could hug you, I would but I don't have any arms, so this will have to do instead." Matt smiled a small smile as Wormmon snuggled up in his lap and began to thank him profusely. Yet, even though he knew he had to leave, he couldn't help but want to stay for the sake of the little kind digimon. If his pain made Wormmon's and other Dark Ring controlled digimon's lives less painful.. Then maybe it was worth it? Maybe he was doing some good by staying? _

_He had no idea what the plan was anymore. _

Hiroaki had come home to see his precious son curled up in a fetal position, lying in his bed. He could not understand it.. What happened to his boy? Why is he acting like this? He hasn't been eating, he flinches anytime someone raises their voice to him, he constantly asks for his 'master'.. He has no idea what happened to his baby boy. He has no idea why he does not wish to see his friends or anyone else. He has no idea as to why he only wants to see his 'master'.

"He only wants to see that person he calls 'master'.. Natsuko, I have no clue what to do with him. I don't know how to handle this! He won't eat, he won't see his friends, for fucks sake Natsuko, he flinches whenever anyone raises their voice to him! I don't know how to handle this.. I don't know what's wrong.. I wish I knew, I wish I did… Fuck, I just want my baby boy back." he partially sobbed into the phone as he spoke to his current ex-wife.

"Maybe…it's time we took him to a shrink. He needs to see one if things are really that out of control.." came her reply from the end of the other line.

"If things are really that out of control? You think I'm making this up? Come down and see it for yourself, Natsuko! He's not the same Mattie anymore! I'm not making this up and I'm not over exaggerating it!" the desperate father half yelled. He could not believe she still thought he over exaggerated things! Why isn't she listening to him? Why isn't she believing him?

"I'm not accusing you of that! I only said if things are really that out of control. God, will you just stop jumping to conclusions for one damn moment? This is about Matt, not me or you." he let out a deep breath in response as he started to slide down the wall he was leaning on. He was soon on the floor and already fully sobbing.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I should not have jumped to conclusions.. I've been doing that a lot ever since Mattie came back.. If he's even back.. I don't know what to do. I really don't." things then went silent.

Neither had a word to say to one another, yet they both cherished the moments silence. It was nice to have peace and quiet for once this week after their having their baby boy come home. It was relaxing, soothing, and in a strange sense, therapeutic.

"You know, I thought when he came back… That he would be the same ole Matt, that everything would fall back into the place where it once was. Now.. I realize that things will never be the same. Even if we get Mattie treatment, he'll still have the memories. Even if we get him cured, he'll still have the dreams. Even if everything goes back to normal, it won't be the exact same because of whatever the hell he went through. You saw those marks on him.. They'll stay with us in our minds till the day we die. ..No, nothing will ever be the same. It can't be…it just can't."

"I understand they never can be…but maybe it's for the better if it didn't. Maybe it's better if things are the way they are now. Everything happens for a reason, Hiroaki. You and I know this to be true. Everything happens for a reason, even bad things like this." 

"I know, but why did it have to be Matt? Why did have to be one of our children? Why, Natsuko? Why?"

_It had been one month. One month since he was kidnapped by the Kaiser. One month since he last saw his brother, Takeru, and Davis. One month since he last saw Gabumon. One month since he was last outside. One month since he last saw the light of the day! One month of being in this dingy place was starting to break him down. _

_His friends had not been able to find him. They did not manage to save him. Due to being weakened by his custom-made Dark Ring on his wrist, the Kaiser had been 'generous' enough to give him the privilege to walk around in the palace more.. He was allowed at least an hour a day outside of his room once a week and was lead around by Wormmon for the hour. Sometimes the smug emperor himself stayed with the blonde for the hour. Yet, he usually never had the time. He was busy trying to conquer the digital world fully, after all. _

_One day, though, things would go awry. Matt had been behaving his 'master's' commands to perfection and even started calling him 'Master Ken' in the past month. He had to, ever since he had been shocked by the Dark Ring he had no other choice. _

_It was all on that one moment, that one spur of the moment when he saw that door as they were heading up to see 'Master Ken' which had caused it all. Something inside of him told him to run the moment he saw that door. Something told him to forget what Wormmon had said about being treated by the Kaiser and go out that door now. He at first tried to ignore it, yet lost the will to ignore it in a matter of seconds as he dashed towards the door. He ran out of the door, down a hallway, then walked down a flight of spiraled stairs, and was halfway down a hall when he opened another door one the left wall. The blonde teen entered the room, hoping he could hide. He saw his chance for freedom, his final and only chance, the moment he saw the window. Taking a deep breath, he tried to open the window. He was feeling the wave of light headedness hit him as he wanted so badly to just lie down. Yet his will would not let him. His will to be free from here, free from the whippings, and free that damned small room was too strong for him to ignore. He had gotten it opened and looked down. Luckily for him, it was only a small jump out. _

_He jumped out of the window, thus began his run to freedom. Sunlight! Oh, sweet sunlight, he was finally back in the sun! The fresh air, it was so clean, it felt so crisp to breathe! This is what he missed. This is what he wanted to experience again. _

_Matt was light headed and close to fainting. He knew he would pass out at any given time now. He saw a digimon who didn't appear to have a Dark Ring on. Giving it his all, he shouted out, "Help! Help me, please! Please, please you have to help me! Help! Help me, please! Don't make me go back there, please. Please don't! Help me!" _

_All he remembered before falling on the ground to pass out, was the scream of a familiar voice saying, "Get him back inside right now!" _

_Mid-tone grey blue eyes awoke to the sound of his bedroom door opening. 'No.. No! It couldn't have had a Dark Ring on it! It couldn't have! No.. No, I can't be stuck here! No way out... There's no way out..' was all he last thought as a saddened and bloody Wormmon approached him. _

_"I thought... I thought you would stay.. Now Master Ken is so enraged. Matt, why would you run? Especially when you know what I have to go through...why run?" he sounded so sad, so broken, so betrayed. Matt immediately felt horrible about leaving the little worm behind with his tyrant master. _

_Matt hugged the little worm, "I'm sorry! I did try to stay, I really did, but Wormmon, I miss my friends and my family.." _

_The little worm digimon looked up into the mid-tone grey blue eyes, "I thought I was your friend, though, Matt." _

_"Wormmon, you are. Look, I'm sorry I tried to leave, but I need to see my family. They'll worry over me and send people to find me. I miss them." he attempted to explain, and Wormmon seemed to be understanding. _

_He was silent, taking what Matt said into account, before replying, "I thought you would try to stay.." _

_"I did. I really did." was all the gold haired boy could tell the little worm. _

_Wormmon nodded in understanding before leaving the room. Matt sighed as he laid back down into his bed. Thinking of everything he had done to escape, he had reached a conclusion: he couldn't leave. Wormmon needed him here to protect him. It also helped to point out that Matt was considerably weaker now, and could not fight back against the Kaiser. This served with the fact his friends were not going to find him and save him... Things looked and felt hopeless in general. Maybe Wormmon had been right? Maybe he should have just given up hope the first day he got here? _

_The door opened once more and in stepped a calm-on-the-outside-but-angry-on-the-inside Kaiser. His very presence made Matt flinch in a sick form of fear. He knew he was going to be whipped again in the whipping room, either that or beaten or stomped on again. _

_Matt backed up against the wall near the bed he was on in fear. He did not wish to whipped again or beaten. The Kaiser took his sweet time in gently closing the door and slowly walking over to the bed. "Darling.." he was now too close to Matt for his own comfort as he got on the bed, "What did I tell you? I own you. You're mine. How many damn times to I have to tell you this before you get the fucking message?"_

_He pushed the blonde boy on the bed and straddled him before beginning to strangle him with his own hands. "What...did I say to you? I told you I loved you more than you know! Yet here you are, taking every damn thing I do for you for granted! Why won't you obey me? Why won't you fucking listen to me!" _

_Matt could feel himself getting light headed again as the air was being cut off from his throat. He was let go when he became unconscious. All he remembered hearing were the words of a sweet lullaby, "I love you.. I love you.." _

The golden blonde teen sighed sadly at the memory. For he knew his master had loved him more than anything in the world. He knew his master adored him, would do anything for him. He missed his master. He needed to go back to the digital world. He needed to see his master. He needed to make sure he was alright.

_'Master.. I'm sorry for leaving. Just find me please.' _

(Author's Note: Okay, so everyone is probably thinking poor Matt, but I am leaning more toward poor Wormmon because he had to deal with it longer.. Anyways, just warning you now, it will only get worse. The memories Matt has are only going to get more violent and graphic. Especially in the next chapter, so just telling you now! I would love to thank everyone who reads this story, likes this story, has a story alert for it, and has reviewed on it thus far. I hope I'm doing a good job of nailing down a syndrome and expect another chapter up soon! All I'll tell you about it is it will be a pretty important one. So, keep on enjoying this story if you so far and thank you for even reading! :) )


	5. Chapter 5

Brothers…

Takeru had not understood why, but he knew everything which had been said and done had lead up to this moment. He knew he needed to see his older brother. Even if the very sight of him made him want to cry his heart out. Even if the way he had that same, dulled, expressionless look in his eyes disturbed him deeply. He had to do this, he had to knock on his father's door and ask to see Matt.

He knew he should have had Tai come along, yet something kept him back from doing so. He hadn't the slightest clue what did, maybe he'll find out tomorrow..

With at least two knocks on the door, Takeru was now facing his father, "Dad, I came by to see Matt and, well, you know.. Help you handle things with him here. I know it has to be hard. Don't worry about mom! She said I could come here and help you with Matt."

Hiroaki let out a silent breath of relief and a smile of comfort, "Okay, come in TK. I'm warning you, though, he's not exactly the same.. He's nowhere near being the same.."

"I understand. Just let me see him, please."

This being said by his youngest son, he let the young blonde boy into the apartment room and went to sit on the couch to watch some TV. The young blonde, meanwhile, had entered his older brother's room and was saddened to see him asleep again.

Determined blue eyes watched the older sibling as he slept in what seemed like peace. Maybe he made the wrong decision? No, he had not. He was going to stay here and help his brother get better.

Since Matt was not awake, there was no point in being in his room. Thus which lead up to him sitting down on the couch in silence with his father. They spoke a bit, but not so much to the point where they could be called 'friends' or even 'close'. Yet here they were; sitting here together, watching TV, and waiting for the once missing son to wake up.

It oddly enough had been Takeru himself who broke the silence, "Dad, thank you for letting me help you with Matt.. I know he needs me now."

"No problem, TK.. I hate to admit it, but I…need you right now. You and your help with Matt, that is. I can't do this on my own. I've been trying, but every time he's awake he asks for that damned 'master' of his and he begs to go back to the digital world. I don't know what to do. I really don't." the father of two admitted in defeat. He had tried to help Matt, yet all he did only failed to make progress and left him at square one.

Takeru gave his father a small smile, "I love Matt, dad. He's my big brother; he's been strong for me so much in my life. He's pulled me through my weakest times and helped me to become stronger. This is the least I can do for him."

Silence yet again followed the last sentence as the TV program came back on. Halfway through, Takeru had almost forgotten his father's presence in the room. Then, the father of the blonde children spoke up softly, "I often wonder he dreams about.. Does he still think about his master or does he dream of what could have happened if he had not been kidnapped? Does he still try to relive the good times? …What does he dream?"

The youngest blonde child pondered this for a few seconds before replying, "Maybe he chooses not to. Maybe…his dreams are blank slates, like his subconscious trying to forget the past year with the Kaiser. Maybe he is happy and back to normal in the dreams, if he chooses to dream. Maybe everything is better in his dreams.."

They watched the TV some more before Takeru wondered aloud, "I wonder if he smiles or laughs in his dreams."

_Matt was lying down in his bed, finally comfortable in the bedroom he had been forced to stay in for the past three months. He had decided to give up the dream of ever leaving, yet he still had a twinge of hope. A twinge which told him to hold on, just keep breathing. Everything will work out fine. You'll leave him someday. The golden blonde had chosen not to listen to this twinge of hope. The last time he had 'hope' for even escaping, he almost died a death by strangulation. Not a good way to die, well, in his opinion at least. _

_He was about to sleep again when the door opened and in stepped the Kaiser. _

"_Hello sweetie, did you miss your master?" he asked the blonde loudly as he gracefully walked over to his bed. _

_Matt immediately sat up and backed away into the corner of the wall. He was in no shape to be whipped again and was not in a better condition to be beaten. _

"_Well, sweetie?" the light violet eyed emperor asked in a sweet voice with a venomous undertone, "Did you miss me?" _

_The Kaiser was now on the bed with Matt, and he was coming closer to him. Matt was starting to shake, yet he still could manage out a small, "Yes…Master Ken. I missed you…Master Ken." _

_Even though he had been calling the Kaiser 'master' ever since his escape attempt, he still felt awkward saying it. He almost felt…dirty calling him that. In a strange way, he felt cheapened by saying it. Yet he had no other choice; it was either this or get whipped for not calling him master. _

_Light eyes glazed over as he stared at the shaking blonde with lust. A deep, maddening lust which had been building up for so long.. He needed to have him forever! He needed to keep his dream come true alive! Never would he let anyone find them, never would he let those rotten brats take his angel away!_

_He leaned over the small space between them and kissed him. The indigo haired emperor would say something which would shock the mid-tone eyed teen for at least a few minutes. _

"_I hear you're great with cooking, sweetheart. Care to make me something tonight?" even though the last bit sounded like a question and given the hint he had a say as to whether he wanted to or not, Matt knew by now it was just another command disguised in a sweet question. _

"_I will make something for you Master Ken. I just want to know.. How did you know I cook?" the Kaiser gave him a small, deceptive smile as he leaned in once more and kissed his lips. _

_He chuckled as he pulled away, "Sweetie, I see and hear all that goes on in the digital world. If I didn't, don't you think your friends would have found you by now?" _

_Matt held back a saddened, defeated sigh. He knew if they didn't find him in a month, they never would. He knew they were never going to find him at this rate.. It had already been three months and they still cannot find him! To him, it just felt like a lost cause to even dream of that thought coming true. At this point, he had given up. _

_Slowly, he responded with a, "Yes master, they would have by now.. Master Ken, what would you like for your meal? I would like to know before I make it for you." _

_The light violet eyed emperor began to wonder of what he wanted.. All he could come up with to say was, "Just make something from the stuff I have in the palace kitchen." _

_Matt nodded, and soon he was lifted up by the Kaiser bridal style. Matt inwardly groaned; this was his master's own unique way to humiliate him in front of all of those digimon who were here underneath the control of the Dark Rings. He knew it was just his master's way of proudly showing off he had dominated a digi-destined. Something which was humiliating to Matt more than anything else he had done. _

_The mid-tone grey blue eyed teen was soon taken down a hallway which led to a dead end with only a door there. The door then opened up to another spiral staircase which lead up to a higher level in the palace. It was then in that higher level, Matt saw something he hadn't seen in three months. Color. _

"_Ah, this is.." he started off in a silent awe. _

_The Kaiser lifted him higher so he could whisper in his ear, "What is it, sweetie?" _

"_Beautiful." was all Matt could reply with. Everything in this level was amazing! The colors were still dark, yet they were very rich and elegant. Dark scarlet reds, rich velvety violets, and deep emerald greens.. It was a beautiful sight! Especially for someone who had not seen color (other than the varying shades of grey and black) in three months. The Kaiser then walked away from the main room and opened a door. Inside the kitchen, it was a mix of blood red with black. Matt had started to sense the Kaiser either despised other colors or really loved darker things all by the look of this kitchen. _

"_Wow.. It's huge! It's bigger than the one I had at home!" Matt was astounded, and even delightfully shocked, at how huge this kitchen was! He could not believe it; for he had never taken the Kaiser as someone who would be that concerned about their kitchen. _

_The Kaiser then dropped the blonde on the ground, "Listen sweetie, you have exactly an hour to make me something so don't be late on it." _

_Matt sighed as he nodded his head. The Kaiser left the room and soon Matt was alone. Given only an hour to make him something to eat, he decided to make him something simple. Maybe teriyaki chicken? Or a rice noodle meal of sorts? Whichever he had the most ingredients for he would make. _

_After only five minutes, the blonde needed help. He could not lift up the stoneware pans to get them on the oven because they were too heavy for him to lift. That along with the fact he was already done making the rice noodles but he was having a problem finding an ingredient for the sauce to cook the noodles in. _

_He had no other choice at that point; he had to ask someone for help. Going out of the kitchen, he saw Wormmon there with some Dark Ring controlled Patamon. Deciding it would be better to ask Wormmon than his master, he approached the little worm he had grown to know as a friend here. _

_The little digimon right away noticed the golden blonde human he had grown to call 'friend' coming up to him, "Matt! What are you doing out? What if Master Ken sees you? Oh Matt, you'll be in so much trouble." _

_Matt smiled as he explained, "I'm here because Master Ken let me out of my room and wants me to cook for him. I need your help though.. You see, those stoneware pans are too heavy for me to lift. They wouldn't have been if Master Ken hadn't drained me of my strength, but they are now, so I need your help." _

_Wormmon nodded as he replied with a quick, "Okay, I'll help you out Matt. Anything for my only friend here." _

_Wormmon lead the way back to the kitchen and tried to help Matt lift up the heavy stoneware pan, yet it was no use. Wormmon was not the most muscular digimon and due to his lack of arms, could only help by putting his head underneath the pan. Couple this with Matt's drained strength and you have a loud, crashing noise with shatters of a broken pan everywhere. _

_Wormmon was horrified, Matt was trembling, and they could already hear the Kaiser in another room shouting, "Who the hell is making this racket! Can't you see I'm trying to run this pathetic little world!" _

_Mid-toned eyes glanced at a hyperventilating Wormmon as the Kaiser was making his way over to the kitchen after hearing the pan breaking into pieces. _

_"Wormmon! You worthless little shit, if my sweetheart got hurt because of you, you'll really fucking get it!" _

_The golden haired boy lifted up the small digimon and began to gently cradle him in his arms. He kept his trembling down to a minimum and held back the urge to run out of the kitchen. He would not abandon his friend; not even if he himself was frightened of what uncertainity his tormentor would bring. Holding Wormmon close, the blonde teen prepared for hell on earth as he heard the Kaiser's footsteps only a few steps away from the kitchen. Time seemed frozen as the Kaiser himself opened the door, visible wrath and all. _

_He was unusually silent for a moment before telling his 'sweetie', "Sweetheart, let go of the worthless waste of data." _

_The golden blonde kept his foot down on this one, though, "No, I won't. You'll only hurt him, even though he did nothing wrong. This is all my fault, master, punish me; not him." _

_Light eyes sent a chill through the bones of the weakened blonde. His sweetie was standing up to him...over Wormmon? Of all digimon, Wormmon? It almost seemed useless, but it mostly screamed pathetic in his mind. His beautiful sweetie was so far above this. He was so far above weak, useless creatures such as Wormmon. The way his mind rationalized and reasoned things worked this way. Due to the way it worked, the actions he did next only made perfect sense. _

_"Sweetie, you're above the useless waste of data. Go finish my meal and let me deal with the pathetic piece of gum on the bottom of my shoe." the cold emperor commanded him. _

_Usually, his sweetie would have obeyed his every command. That was how it had been ever since he had gotten punished for trying to run away from the palace. He had learnt his lesson the hard way and was very perfectionistic on his obedience to his master. _

_Things today were just an irritating step backwards for the Kaiser and he was positive he would snap when his beloved snapped back with a, "No! I won't! I refuse to cook for someone who will hurt my friend for my mistakes!" _

_The Kaiser could feel his temper starting to reach that boiling point, that fine, fine mark which kept him from going over the limit on his rage. In the heat of all of this, there stood the rail thin golden blonde with his mid-tone eyes staring right back into the those lifeless ones of his abuser. All of his hope, all of his last ounce of fight, all of his last pieces of will power were staring defiantely into the eyes of the Kaiser himself. _

_The blonde took a step closer to the emperor and looked him in his eyes, "No. I will not back down now; you will not hurt Wormmon for my mistake. If you're about to punish someone, punish the guilty one; not the innocent." _

_The Kaiser snarled underneath his breath. Now he had reached that limit. Now he was going to snap. _

_"Wormmon, leave the room. This is between my sweetie and I." the Kaiser in a voice which was deathly calm, icily cool, almost too relaxed. Yet not even his voice could disguise the horrid, black rage-filled aura emitting off of him. This frightened the little digimon to no end, much more so than a WarGreymon, so he did the one thing he knew would be safest for him to do in this situation. He leapt out of his defender's arms and left the room. _

_The door was shut. The two humans were now alone. Matt knew in the back of his mind what was about to come, and yet he was still afraid of it. At least, he thought he knew in the back of his mind what was about to come. The moment the door shut, he was ready to follow his master down to the whipping room. Yet what happened next frightened him more than the attempt on his life. _

_The Kaiser punched him as hard as he could in the stomach. Normally, if he had not been weakened by the Dark Ring, he would not have fallen down on the ground. Needless to say, he did. He fell on the ground and was trying to come to grip with the situation when the Kaiser grabbed a non-stoneware frying pan. Light eyes darkened with hate and rage as he began to beat the mid-tone eyed boy with the frying pan. Repeatedly hitting his head, even though the blonde was covering it, the Kaiser released his frustration. His wrath, his fury, his stress, his pain; it all went out on the weakened blonde as he struggled to defend himself from his position on the floor. _

_All he heard was a buzzing noise as the rage consumed him. Never once did he hear the pleas, pleas which had fallen upon his deaf ears, the pleas of: _

_"Please stop, Master Ken! Take me down to the whipping room instead!" _

_"Master Ken, master please stop! Please, I'm sorry." _

_Each hit felt as if he was not being hit by a light-weight frying pan: rather, it felt like as if he was being hit by one of the heavy duty stoneware pans. Each hit felt more painful than the last. Each and every hit was just a constant reminder of why he had chosen to not listen to that twinge of hope. That twinge which had brought him here. This cursed twinge which was causing him the worst pain he had felt in his entire life! The Kaiser had stopped hitting him with the pan for a few seconds. Using this moment, he put his hand out to the handle of a bottom drawer where he and the little worm had gotten the stoneware out of. He put his free hand on the ground to stabilize himself as he shakily stood up. Legs shaking, he managed to pull himself up from the ground. _

_Right when the golden blonde had got himself to stand halfway up, he was knocked to ground yet again. Before he blacked out, all he remembered feeling was a small pain at the back of his head and something warm going down his neck. _

_"You made me do this, sweetie. You shouldn't have made me angry." _

The oldest child was rudely awoken by the sound of his younger brother's voice: "Matt, Matt! Wake up, Matt!"

He fluttered his eyes twice before looking over to the one who woke him up. Matt blinked as the younger smiled, "Hey Matt, how was your sleep? ..Nothing bad came up did it?"

Matt sighed as he closed his eyes once more, "It was good. Nothing bad came up at all. When can I see my master again?"

Takeru kept on his smile as he tried to remember the time when Matt was strong. Remembering the memories of him being the weak one and Matt being the strong. Whatever happened to that? Where had things changed? Had it been when Takeru grew up and became stronger? Maybe. He could not blame himself for becoming stronger; not now, not when his brother needed him. He owed it to Matt to save him; he couldn't do it then, he had to do it now.

Especially since it was his fault his idol had gotten kidnapped in the first place. (Which is how Takeru learned to reason and deal with Matt's kidnapping ordeal)

"That's good Matt! I'm glad to see nothing bad came up. I hope you know I'll be right here for you, for as long as it takes to get you better. Got it?" he replied with a slightly faltered smile as he tried his hardest not to bring up his brother's 'master'. He needed to make Matt forget about the dreaded Kaiser. He had to, it was the only way he could get better.

Matt closed his eyes as he tried to fight off his tears, "I just need to know.. I only need to see my master again; please, please let me see him again."

Takeru once again avoided the topic of his 'master' with a, "Hey Matt, wanna watch a movie with us? We're going to rent a cheesy romance one so we can mock it. Won't that be fun?"

The older teen kept his eyes closed as the tears were slowly threatening to fall, "No thank you, I just want to see my master again."

The youngest child was going to give it one last try before resorting to the last measure, "Matt, do you want to go on a walk to the park? We can go and hang out there like we used to when we needed some one-on-one time."

Mid-tone grey blue eyes opened as the tears streamed down his face, "I just want to see my master, TK! Let me see him again, please! Please I need to see him! I need to.. I have to.."

The youngest then had enough of beating around the bush. He needed to say it now or never, "Matt, you are never seeing him again. I saw the whip marks. I saw your wrist. I saw your bruises. Mom and dad did too; they were so horrified, Matt! Don't you understand? If you go back, he'll either rape and kill you or skip straight to the murder. I refuse to let either happen. I couldn't save you from him the first time around; but that does not mean I cannot save you now. Let me save you, Matt. Let me free you from him."

Takeru wrapped his arms around his broken brother, ignoring the flinch his brother gave off. Holding his brother, the one he had lost for one year to the Kaiser, for the first time felt relieving...yet empty. Empty because this was not his brother. This was a mindless, dependent slave to the Kaiser. No different from the many Dark Ring controlled digimon in the digital world. It was, in lack of a better word, heart breaking.

He let go of his brother for the moment being as he left the room yet again. This time, it was because he realized they could not do this alone. His family could not help Matt alone; they needed the rest of the original digi-destined.

Matt, on the other hand, was still lost in the thought of his master. He missed his master; for he knew his master had not meant to be so cold. It was all only an accident. Only an illness; a mental illness, one he could not control.

_Matt had woken up in a dark room. The warm feeling going down his neck was now gone, and his head was slightly throbbing. All he knew or even so much as remembered was cooking for his master. All he really remembered was not much of what had happened and why he was there. _

_"Hello sweetie, I bet you're wondering why you're here." came the voice of his master. _

_He looked around to see if his master was really anywhere in this dark place. He could not see anything, not even his own master. _

_Matt took a shaky breath as he asked, "M-Master Ken, what happened? Why am I here?" _

_The light switched on immediately as he felt that same rush of painful electricity seep throughout his body. Despite being whipped here in the whipping room so many times already, he still felt the same pain every time he was punished. He let out a loud scream as he was whipped yet again. He felt the whip cutting into his skin, burning him, scarring him once more before his master said, "Now sweetie, do you understand the new rule? No speaking unless if I permit you to." _

_The blonde was now crying as he nodded. His hope was dead. His last, final twinge was dead and gone as the pain from the whipping reminded him of why he was here. Wormmon and him had broken a stoneware pan. He took the blame for Wormmon. Yet, it did not explain the throbbing in his head nor the fact he woke up in here in the dark. _

_"Sweetie, you are allowed to speak now." came that sickly sweet voice, that sickly sweet voice the blonde had grown to distrust and fear. _

_"W-Why am I here, Master Ken? Why does my head hurt? I can't remember." the weakened teen inquired as the Kaiser let out a chuckle as he cracked the whip on his back once more. _

_As the blonde let out his scream, the Kaiser replied with a cool, "I hit you with a frying pan, sweetheart. You were being very disobedient to me. I could not just let you slide away with no punishment, now could I? Your head only hurts because of that beating, but don't worry, you'll be just fine." _

_The whip sent the electrical pain throughout his body five times more as the blonde screamed out in anguish. Then his master had hit the whip in a particularly sensitive spot. A spot which made him scream louder than ever before; the right side of his mid back. The spot where the Kaiser had first whipped him on his first day here at this hellhole palace. _

_He cried and yelped as his merciless master only kept whipping him in the same spot over and over again. The frightened teen was positive things were going to get worse, but then something happened. He did not feel another crack of the whip on his back. He did not hear his master speaking or doing much of anything. A full fifty seconds had passed before the Kaiser uncuffed the blonde from the wall, letting him fall to the floor with a loud 'thump'. Matt innocently thought the Kaiser was only standing over him, light violet eyes tracing over him, only to examine his wounds from the whipping. _

_No, what he got was something much stranger than he had imagined. _

_The Kaiser was on top of him, tracing his fingers over his form as he let his mind silently enact out a fantasy he had of himself and the blonde beneath him. He held his breath as he came closer to the object of his desires. Giving him a heated kiss, he began to let his hands roam over the weakened slave. His sweetie was almost his; he could feel it. He just had to get him on his side, and he already knew how. _

_Matt was too weak to care. Too weak to fight back or even so much as notice the Kaiser's mouth on his. He did not even notice his hands tracing over his form, memorizing, analyzing every curve, every inch, every spot, every touch of his skin. Almost as if enacting out a sick, twisted play. Yet to the recently whipped blonde, this was nice. It felt good to be kissed and held for once after a whipping rather than left on the floor to be stomped on or beaten. Even if he had no romantic feelings for his master, he still let him kiss him because it felt too good to be treated like a dime. _

_The Kaiser pulled away, looking into the eyes of his sweetheart. Never once did he necessarily feel any regret or sorrow for what he had done to his angel.. Yet he still felt the need to pull his sweetie onto his lap and hold him. He held him for a few moments before choking out a, "I... Don't mean to be this way, sweetie. I never wanted to. I'm sick in the head, sweetheart, that's why I...I get this way sometimes. I cannot control it. I came to the digital world to fulfill my wish. My wish to wish it all away. All of it, away.. Now that I have you, I'm not alone; I can wash it all away.." _

_The blonde weakly nodded; the Kaiser let out a small groan, "You can speak, sweetheart." _

_He was silent for a few moments. He had so many questions to ask his master. Right at this very moment, he seemed so lonely and vulnerable. Something Matt himself had gone through before. It was something he never wished upon anyone else, not even his own master. _

_"Master Ken.. What did you want to wish away? How long...were you alone?" _

_The Kaiser replied with a quiet, "My illness.. I'm mentally ill, sweetheart. I know you might label me as a 'crazy' or a 'physco' or a 'schizo'.. It's okay if you do, everyone else did. I never had any friends because of it. I came here because I needed to wish it away; the drugs don't work and the shrinks won't help. I was making everything worse for everybody, sweetie, I had to leave that life behind and come here. I had to. It was the only way I could.." _

_Matt now felt a stinge of pain and sympathy for his master. All of his behaviors towards him and the digimon seemed to make sense now...but he still could not grasp the fact of his cruelty all that well. _

_"Why...are you so cruel to the digimon the way everyone else was to you? Why do you hurt them? Why do you hurt me? Why do you want me?" he pleaded to know from his master. He had to know; it was the only to get some form of closure after all he had gone through so far. _

_"Angel.. My beautiful, beautiful angel.. I wanted you because you understand me. You were here before in the digital world, I heard of you and your struggles from digimon whom you had helped. I just knew...if anyone would not reject me, it would be you. I don't mean to be cruel to the digimon nor do I intend to harm them or you; angel, I'm mentally ill. One part of my illness is I cannot control my anger or stress or frustration well. I lash out violently without intending to. I can't help it. I cannot control it. Please understand that much.." the Kaiser explained to his angel. _

_'Now it all makes sense.. He does not mean to be this way; he was just ill-treated and is a bit mentally ill. It's not his fault, if of anything, I should try to be his friend. Maybe he would get better then? Maybe he would finally be able to wash it all away?' the slightly underweight, captive teen reasoned in his mind as he nodded and said in a soft voice, "This is nice.. I like being held by you, Master Ken. It feels so good." _

_The Kaiser stood up and held out the blonde's shirt and blazer to him, "Talking time is over. You will put this on right now, I will hold your hand and take you back to your room. Understood, sweetie?" _

_Matt only nodded as he put on his shirt and soon afterwards grabbed his master's hand. He was led up the spiral stairs and back into his room. His head was dizzy and his legs felt like jello. The moment his body fell onto the bed, he was out cold. Outside his room, though, there sat a sad and confused Wormmon. He had overheard his master tell the blonde digi-destined that he was mentally ill and was not well liked because of it. Yet, at this point, all the little digimon even knew about his master for fact was that he either was mentally ill or just another pathological liar. _

Matt sighed as the thought back to that day started to fade. '_Master Ken, I need you, I really do. Please, please find me. I can't stay here anymore. I don't want to.' _

(Author's Note: Sorry if I did not update sooner! I got the worst food poisoning case ever, but don't worry I am back! I hope this chapter is not a disappointment. I did my best to sort of help capture that moment where Matt finally loses hope and starts to sympathize with his tormentor. I hope everyone is enjoying this so far and I hope it's not a total failure right now! I seriously hope that, so anyways, I want to thank everyon who is subscribed/has a story alert for this story, everyone who reads this story, everyone who has reviewed this story so far, and everyone who even so much as likes this story. I can only hope I'm not letting you all down on this one. Don't worry; being sick oddly enough gave me a lot of inspiration for the next chapters so look forward to them and again, thank you! :) )


	6. Chapter 6

Memory

(Author's Note: This entire chapter is basically a flashback of Matt's sixth month with the Kaiser, along with a brief summary of his fourth and fifth months, so everyone will hopefully see where he began to see his captor more in the light of a 'friend' and less of a 'tormentor'.)

_His fourth month at the Kaiser's palace had not been all that bad. Sure, he got dealt with random whippings and beatings whenever he did not make his master's meals on the exact time he wanted them done.. He had also been punished only four times for not obeying the new 'do not speak unless if given permission to'. Despite all of this, he still viewed his fourth month here as one of the better ones. The fifth month had not been all that bad either; he was only punished a few times for entering his master's room and for leaving his room without his master's permission. In the midst of all of this, he had managed to ignore all the subtle hints. _

_Hints which had everything to do with his master's behavior at the end of the fifth month as well as the sixth. The naive blonde never once noticed his master's lustful gaze at him whenever he entered the room or when he would get done punishing him. He never even once noticed the hungry look in his master's eyes. Almost like an animalistic hunger, with the exception it was not a cannibalistic hunger. No, the hunger the Kaiser felt for his new slave was one for his body. One for him stealing that angelic like innocence in a pure, deviously brutual way and ripping it to bloody shreds as his angel begged for more. _

_The thought of ripping out his perfection and tainting it, the idea of stealing him from anyone else, the very knowledge of being his first was enough to drive the Kaiser mad. _

_The only one who did notice, however, was Wormmon. "Master Ken, why are looking at the child in that manner? Don't you understand how young he is?" _

_"Shut up, insect!" he growled lowly at the worm, "You have no soul, no reason to be living or breathing right now! You don't even truly exist, you're only a worthless waste of data. Lest you forget, I can have you killed if I choose to. Do yourself a favor and stay the fuck out of my love life!" _

_Immediately, the whip cracked along his scarred skin, opening up old wounds and creating new. _

_"Master, please, he's only thirteen! How old are you again, Ken?" the wounded worm inquired out loud. For he was deeply disturbed by how his master had been looking upon the blonde child. Despite not knowing much of human culture, he did know this: the way the Kaiser had been gazing so lustfully at the blonde was not acceptable in any society. Not even in the Digital World. _

_"I'm not that old, you stupid fuck!" the emperor roared at the defenseless worm, "I'm only eighteen!" _

_The whip cracked, once again, upon the concerned digimon's skin as the wounds only bled more profusely. _

_"I know you are not that old, but master, you told me once you hit eighteen you'd be legally an adult.. Doesn't this make they way you gaze upon him much more wrong? ..Master Ken, please, don't touch that child." the Kaiser only snarled lowly underneath his breath as he lifted up the worm digimon and threw him in the air, only to kick him as hard as he could across the room. Wormmon hit the wall and instantly knew his master would not relent on this wrong need. _

_The Kaiser only taunted him, "Just to let you know, Wormmon, I already did touch my sweetie. The day I first got him, I stole his first kiss from him when he was unconscious. I cannot help but go farther on my sweet, small little angel now." _

_Wormmon could only slightly widen his slowly closing eyes in shock, "M-Master.. Why?" _

_The emperor only laughed that evil, insane laugh he had grown to fear as he replied with a simple, "Because he's mine." _

_The day after he had this chat with Wormmon, he would enter Matt's room only to be slightly put off when he was not there. _

_"Angel, where are you? Come out and see your master, right now. ...Angel, don't aggravate me unless if you want a long punishment." he was starting to snarl from rage and annoyance. _

_Matt was shaking from fear as his master called out his name. What should he do? Should he tell him he's taking a bath right now or would that only result in a punishment for speaking without permission? _

_He was about to speak when he accidentally knocked the towel rack over whilst reaching for his towel. The moment he heard his Master Ken stop speaking, he knew he had been heard. _

_'Oh no.. I'll be punished again, I just know it! I shouldn't have been that clumsy, now Master will really lose it on me..' the digidestined was now frightened as the loud, damning footsteps of his master's feet approached closer to the bathroom door. _

_Mid-tone eyes widened in suspense as the door opened and his master entered the room. The blonde could only blush in embarrassment as his master seemed to only stare for a moment before smoothly striding into the room. Light eyes analyzed the teen as he was in the bathtub. Only the Kaiser himself could justify these thoughts he had been having over his slave. _

_"Angel, why didn't you answer me?" he demanded to know as the pale teen was only starting to quiver in fear. _

_Since Matt did not really know if he had permission to speak or not, he kept his mouth shut. He had been in situations where his master called for him, but wound up whipping or beating him when he did respond to his call. _

_"Angel, I'm giving you three damn seconds to tell me.." the slowly becoming angered Kaiser threatened. _

_Matt, still not knowing what to do, kept his mouth shut. It was at this moment the now angered emperor put his hand on the frightened teen's throat. _

_With a low growl, he stared directly into the eyes of Matt Ishida, "I was calling for you and asking you a damn question! When I call for you and ask you a damn question, you fucking respond. Understand?" _

_The blonde nodded and the grip on his throat loosened. The now much more understanding Kaiser then said to him, __"Great to see you understand.. You have my permission to speak now sweetie." _

_"I-I didn't know what to say or do.. You didn't give me permission to speak, Master Ken." oh how the Kaiser loved how well trained the little blonde slave was now! It was almost as if he never had any fight in him at all. _

_"Angel, my sweet, sweet angel.. You are leaving this little room today. You will move in with me in my room, no questions asked." Matt's eyes widened in surprise and slight joy. He had heard from Wormmon how much warmer and nicer his master's room was than his own. To think he would be in a nice room again; it was almost a strange dream come true. Though he had gotten used to the uncomfortable bed as well as the lack of windows and color, he still got cold at night. _

_'He..why is he doing this for me? I never even complained about my room to anyone else, not even Wormmon.' he thought before asking the now warm and kind emperor, "Why...are you doing this for me, Master Ken? I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I don't even deserve to be in your nice room.." _

_The self-proclaimed king of the digital world only chuckled lightly before fully removing his hand off of the blonde's throat to stroke his cheek, "I am doing this because I love you, angel. I told you when you first came here 'I love you more than you know'... Well, look at it like this: this is me proving to you how much I love you and am willing to change for you. You do deserve to be in my room, angel, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise." _

_Matt only smiled a small smile before replying with a small, "Thank you, master." _

_"Don't mention it. Talking time is officially over now, so go on and get dressed. I will be waiting outside the bathroom for you." a faux kind and warm demeanor soon soured back into it's original, true form of cruelty and sadism as the Kaiser responded to his 'angels' thank you. _

_The moment he left, the pale teen got out of the bathtub and started getting dressed as quickly as he could. When he was finished, he saw his master sitting on his bed, waiting for him. _

_"Next time sweetie, I'm getting you dressed when you get out of a bath or shower. You take too damn long to get ready. Come on, let's go! I don't have all day to show you to your new room, which you will be sharing with me." the emperor stated boldly as he lifted up his slave bridal style and began to take him to his room. _

_'Master Ken is starting to show me respect! Sure, it's just a room, but at least I'll probably be able to sleep without the door being locked or leather straps being tightened on my wrists. I wonder if his bed really is the softest bed in the entire world. I wonder if his room really is like a storybook king's room. I wonder what the colors are. I wonder..' his excited thoughts were cut off once they reached the highest room in the palace. In front of him stood a large, cherry wood door with a twenty-four carat gold knob; the door itself having intricate desgins and details all finely carved onto it. _

_He looked down at the floor and noticed it was different from the rest of the palace. This floor was a rich, blood red carpet, unlike the rest of the palace which had only grey tile. The Kaiser seemed to notice the blonde's amazement as he said to him, "Impressed?" _

_Matt nodded as he chuckled before opening the door, "Oh, but this is only the outside leading into my room! I can only imaging how breathless you will be when you see the actual thing." _

_The door opened and Matt was soon rendered speechless. It was a gorgeous sight; the floor was black marble and the walls were an elegant midnight blue. On the walls hung nothing, save for the silver trimmed mirror that hung above the cherry wood dresser. The bed was a california king size, with a black canopy and delicately carved wooden posts. The sheets were black, the cover itself was a ruby red, and there was a set of four pillows on the bed. Two were of a larger size, the other two were of a smaller size. The larger ones were black and the smaller one were ruby red. He then drifted his eyes over to the area which seemed to be the center of the room itself. _

_There hung on the wall two long, flowing black drapes which covered two large, glass French doors. The light from the outside world shone slightly through the slight crack in the drapes. Despite the walls and room itself being dark and rather lifeless, he still was fascinated with the doors. Where did they lead? What was beyond those drape covered doors? His thoughts were cut off by his master speaking, "Angel, you have my permission to speak. How do you like my room?" _

_The blown away teen only replied, "I...master, it is beautiful, but what is behind those drapes?" _

_Grinning, the Kaiser put him on the ground and replied with a, "Follow me, darling, and I will show you." _

_He pushed back the drapes and opened the doors. Matt followed suite as they went through the doors. Once they exited the room, he was convinced he was seeing the entire digital world. For beyond the French doors was a beautiful balcony with the same black tile as the rest of the room, and the view was magnificient. Well, it would have been better had there not been those terrible dark towers scattered all about. This was the only downside to it. _

_"Master Ken, it is amazing! I love it, oh I have not seen sunlight in so long.. I didn't think it was as nice as I remembered it!" the golden hair shone brightly in the sun's soft rays. Fresh air, oh how he missed fresh air! Hopefully his master would understand his want of staying out here some more. Hopefully he would be understanding enough to allow him to stay outside longer. _

_The Kaiser only smirked inwardly at the sight in front of him. This was only just another sick fantasy of his coming true. He had always dreamt of the blonde boy standing here, on his balcony and in his possession. Yet, he had to bide some time. He wanted to make his slave love him; he could not rush perverted needs now. "Come on sweetie, we're going back inside. I need to show you where the bathroom is." _

_"Okay, Master Ken.." once they were back inside, the blonde asked, "Can I go out there again, Master Ken? Not today, of course, but maybe tomorrow?" _

_"No, sweetheart. You will only go out there once a month. After all, I cannot risk any non-Dark Ring controlled digimon to see you outside." he told the slave firmly. Matt only inwardly sighed; he should have known better than to ask by now. They walked away from the French doors, and down along the wall to the black door which was only a foot away from the bed. It was at this moment that Matt saw a little black nightstand (all it had was a single drawer with a silver handle) and a lamp on top of it. He briefly wondered what was in the drawer as his master opened the black door. _

_Once he stepped inside the room, he was in awe. The bathroom seemed to be fit for a king.. The tile color was still black, there were no windows in the room, but for a light source there was a medium sized black French chandelier which hung from the high ceiling. He looked over towards the beautifully silver trimmed mirror which was above the his-and-her vessel sinks. Looking at the sink area more, he noticed the sinks sat upon a beautiful cream colored marble with a black stained vanity underneath the marble. _

_Then he turned his attention to the shower. It was quite a sight: pebble tile on the floor of the shower, a tile seat big enough for two people in the shower itself, a sleek glass door to open it, along with a beige colored tile on the walls of the shower. The shower head was a detachable one and seemed to be easy enough for him to figure out how to use. The blonde teen soon felt his master's hands on his waist, "Do you love it, sweetie?" _

_"Master Ken, I do.. It's like something you would read of in a fairytale book." he told the emperor who seemed to be pleased with what he was hearing. He grinned as he kissed the blonde on the cheek. _

_"I knew you would.." he said quite calmly as he began to kiss the blonde's neck and slide his hands underneath the hem of his blazer and shirt. Hand roamed the now-frozen blonde's chest as he kept kissing and sucking on his neck. It felt too good for him to let go, yet for Matt it was a bit much. He was officially confused as to his master's true intentions for bringing him here, into his room. He was now realizing this may be had nothing to do with punishment at all. This may be had something to do with his master and his feelings for him. _

_Turning the teen's body to face him, the Kaiser began to kiss him on his lips and slide his tongue into his mouth. Matt was still frozen and confused yet frightened all at once as his hands kept feeling his chest and were starting to slide down his hips, slowly getting lower.. _

_A hard, loud slap on his face was given to him as he flinched and pulled away from his master. _

_"Sweetie, when I fucking kiss you or touch you, don't you move or pull away, got it?" he growled at his now-trembling slave as he looked right into his eyes and said a small, "I'm sorry master, it's just.. Well, I-I.. You know..have never been with anyone before and your touching me lower made me feel uncomfortable. I've never been touched like that before, Master Ken." _

_His master was deahtly silent for a moment before speaking in a still tone, "I get it now.. If it's from me, your lover, it feels wrong, but if it were from that damned Tai it would feel right. Wouldn't it sweetie?" _

_Matt was about to get on his knees and beg for mercy when his master grabbed his wrist roughly, "Answer me! Would it feel right from Tai or not!" _

_"N-No! No, Master Ken, please don't! I-I like being held by you and gently kissed by you. I've never even thought of Tai as any other way than a friend, please! Please let go, you're hurting me!" the blonde digi-destined begged. _

_The light violet eyes flared of pure wrath as he pulled the slave roughly over to the slipper clawfoot tub and forced him in it, "No.. You're lying to me, darling and I can tell. I'll make you love me, you'll have to love me by the time I'm done with this!" _

_Strong, gloved hand held the mid-tone eyed digi-destined by his throat in the bathtub as he turned on the water and let it fill the tub. _

_"M-Master Ken, please, I'm sorry! I won't do it again, please master let me go!" _

_His pleads for mercy did not melt the stone ice heart of the Kaiser. He was not relelnting on his hold over the blonde's throat as the tub water rose higher and was soon almost fully over his face. _

_He was crying now as he begged one final time, "Master Ken, please.. I won't do it again, I promise. I wasn't lying when I said I view him as only a friend.. He's my best, straight friend. I couldn't be with him.. Please, master, let go of me." _

_The cold light eyes narrowed, "Even if you are not lying to me now, sweetie, I still have to punish you for pulling away.. Think of it as sleeping under water for a minute or two.. Just relax darling, it will all be fine. I love you too much to kill you." _

_His heart was beating out of his chest as he tried to hold his breath for as long as he could. Yet, it was all a futile attempt to save his own life. He breathed out his final, almost painful breath as the darkness overcame him. _

_Matt would wake up after a CPR attempt, from the Kaiser himself, god knows how many minutes or seconds later. When he was awoken, he was shaking. He could not believe his master had done this to him. It seemed impossible to believe, he had never once believed his master would attempt to drown him. Unless, of course, if he was trying some stupid stunt like running away again. Other than this, the blonde slave had no reasoning to believe his master would attempt something this violent. _

_"Get up and follow me if you want new, warm clothing. You are not allowed to speak for the rest of the day, understand?" he coldly stated to the mid-tone eyed teen. _

_The blonde nodded weakly before using the ledge of the bathtub to help himself stand up and follow his master out of the room. When they were out of the bathroom, the Kaiser went over to his dresser and quickly pulled out a new outfit for his slave to wear. Almost immediately, he shoved the shirt, pants, and boxers to the blonde he was holding captive. _

_"Get dressed. Now." he commanded to the blonde who stripped off his cold, still-soaking wet shirt and blazer to put on the new, warm white v-neck his master had given him. At this point, taking his shirt in front of his master did not really bother him anymore. Hell, his master had seen him shirtless numerous amounts of times! It was the part of taking off his jeans and boxers that did not sit too well with him. _

_The emperor only grinned before asking, quite mockingly, "Why, sweetie.. You're this innocent? You don't like the thought of getting too undressed in front of me? Let me guess, darling.. You're a virgin aren't you?" _

_Matt nodded quickly as a blush of embarrassment was made visible to the Kaiser. He never understood how, or why, but his master always made him feel ashamed for certain things. Being a virgin is the newest one his master has made him ashamed of. _

_Trying to hold back a laugh, the Kaiser then walked right up to the virgin slave and immediately unbuttoned his jeans before stripping him of his boxers. Now Matt was horrified. He had never wanted his master to see his long, yet disgustingly thin legs nor did he ever want him to see him in this state of undress. It was too much for the blonde, and he wanted to move away, shout, or scream, but he did not. Fear of being murdered by his own master was what was controlling him now. _

_"Put it on, sweetie, I want to see you finish getting dressed." came the taunting whisper of his master. _

_Shaking hands pulled on the final two articles of clothing as mid-tone grey blue eyes avoided looking into the light violet. He could not meet his master's stare; it was too humiliating. Especially after what happened, it was all too humiliating. Had he have looked into his master's eyes, he would have seen the lust burning in his gaze, the need firing inside of his very being. He would have known why his master had taken him away in the first place. _

_"Perfect.. You look stunning, angel." he almost breathed out as he ran his gloved hand down the side of the blonde's face. Matt still avoided his eyes, even when he was pushed onto the bed and handcuffed to the bed-post. _

_He felt a kiss of dry, harsh, hungry lips upon his own as the Kaiser then said to him, "Goodnight, sweetie. I'll be back here with you shortly, so don't miss me too much.." _

_With this last sentence, the emperor left the room and turned off the light in the room, leaving the slave alone in the darkness. _

_This all happened on the last day of the fifth month. It was only but a foreshadowing of the events the sixth month held. Poor, innocent Matt had no idea of his master's lustful intentions towards him, nor had he any clue on why he really had him here in his room. All he knew at the moment was how lucky he is to be alive and how heavenly soft his master's bed was. _

Matt sighed as the memory faded from his mind for the moment being. He could hear his parents taking about taking him to see a therapist to 'get some help' for his 'problems'. It really surprised him that they believed he had 'problems'! He knew he had to see his master, he knew he had to check up on him. Yet, this seemed to be the 'problem' they were complaining of. All it did at this point was make him rather angry at them. For after all, he was not 'ill' and he did not have a 'problem' of any sorts!

Oh if only he could back to see his master.. Month six had been the best month, after all, for it was when his master had not been punishing him so much. It was also when his master actually was in a kind enough to treat the blonde slave to a show of kindness and true, genuine hospitality. Something his master never did before, but was making an effort to do so in that almost dream-like month.

_It was the sixth month of Matt's stay here at the palace. His master had been laying off the work load for him after the little drowning incident and had even taken the time to let his slave be by his side all day as he worked. It felt relieving and almost as if his master was truly sorry for everything he had done to him. At the same time, though, Matt could not help but feel as if he was taking advantage of a mentally ill man by unknowingly reminding him of all the wrong he had done. Needless to say, this feeling caused a great deal of self-loathing for the blonde digi-destined. _

_True, his master had not allowed him to speak for a week. True, he was still punished every now and then. Still, it was not all too bad in the blonde's mind. On the days his master was not in the mood to have him by his side all day, he did lock up him in the room all day long. A lot of his days had been spent staring at the closed black drapes as they hid the locked balcony doors. _

_Today had been one of those days. The days were he was locked in the room all day long, eyes glued onto the drapes. It made him sigh in grief as the memory sadistically replayed in his mind. The memory of the time he was finally outside again. Turning his eyes away from the drapes, he laid down on the bed and slowly fell asleep. Sleeping had too become a habit of his whenever he was locked in the room for so long. An hour or two later, however, he would be woken up by his master entering the room. _

_"Get up, sweetie. I have something to ask you." he knew by now that 'ask' meant 'tell' and the question would sound as if he had a choice, but in all truth, he had no choice and would only be punished for saying anything other than 'yes'. _

_He slowly sat himself up as his master began to speak yet again, "Will you have dinner with me tonight? I'll be making it, so you don't have to worry about cooking." _

_The golden haired slave nodded as his master only said, "I knew you would.. We'll have it at seven and you'll be ready by then. I want you to wear this tonight, so put it on and I'll leave." _

_By now, he had gotten used to undressing and dressing in front of his master. Still, it did not mean he was any less embarrassed when he did so. His face burned up from humiliation as he slipped off the dark grey pants he had been wearing. In it's place, he was now wearing a pair of skinny jeans and the shirt he had changed into was a black button down. The indigo haired emperor grinned as he said, "It's great to see you being so cooperative, sweetie. It's been nice; not having to punish you for all the sinful mistakes you make. You really have gone from personal monster to personal angel." _

_'Personal.. Monster? Was I really that hard to live with? Was I really that horrible to my master?' the golden haired slave thought in shame. How could he have been so horrible to his master? Well, from now on, he was going to do his best to make living with him easier for his master. _

_Matt nodded as his captor left the room, leaving him alone yet again. Staring out to the drapes, he began to think of ways to change himself for the better. If his master had called him a monster, then surely he had been a monster for his friends and family to live with. It depressed him, to think of them now, yet he knew he had to. He had to think of them now so he could try to remember if he really was a monster to live with like his master had said. The blonde soon tired himself from all the over thinking and fell asleep. _

_He awoke two hours later this time, this time it was Wormmon who reluctantly got the blonde up. _

_"Matt.. Matt, wake up. Master Ken wants to see you right now. It's for your...dinner date." the little worm digimon said to the blonde as he yawned and sat up in the bed. _

_The slave nodded as he stood up and followed the silent digimon out of the room. _

_Wormmon could not take the silence anymore and told the blonde, "Eighteen. Master Ken is eighteen, Matt. If he does anything at all to you, please tell me. I know how he really...feels about you and it disturbs me too deeply to ignore. Please, Matt, promise me you won't let him touch you." _

_The blonde only nodded numbly. Truth be told, he always thought his master was either fifteen or sixteen. Hearing he was eighteen was not much of a shock, but it did remind him of something his dad once showed him when he was twelve.. It was a video about sexual offenders, deviants, and rapists. After watching the video, the then-twelve year old had been disturbed and pretty frightened. He then asked his father what to do in those kinds of situations and all his father had to say was, 'Mattie, you're a...a well, attractive child. Older men and perverts will be attracted to...you. If they come near you at all, you run. If they grab you, kick back and scream, do anything to get away. If they do...you know, uh, rape you, tell either me or your mother immediately so we can call the police.'_

_Of course, he was pretty sure this was not a situation where that advice would be needed. After all, his master only kissed him...and watched him get dressed or undressed. Besides, his master was not a serial killer nor a serial rapist as far as he knew. Oddly enough, his master was much kinder, warmer than an average sociopath or physcopath. He had been able to reason out this little fact by simply coming to the conclusion that his master was neither of the two, but only a severly ill person. _

_He was snapped back in to reality when he was sat down on a chair in a lavish room. The table was a glass top one, with black wood for legs and to hold it up. The walls were painted a dark grey (his least favorite color) and the floors were black as well. He looked around the room and only saw nothing on the walls or the floor. Not even so much as speck of dust. This room was literally almost like an empty space. Had it not been for the sleek, modern style chandelier in the room providing light, it would have been a dark empty room. _

_Matt then sighed as he waited for his master to come. Hopefully he would not be in a bad mood or yell when he entered the room. The blonde hated it whenever his master was angry or even a little pissed because it always led to him being beaten or whipped. _

_"I'm sorry for being a bit late, sweetie, I had some very important business to attend to." the Kaiser said smoothly as he entered the room and took the black seat across the table from when Matt was sitting. Matt only nodded as his indigo-haired master smiled. _

_"So, angel, how are you liking living with me so far?" Matt knew in the back of his mind he could not give out his true opinion on it, so he decided to only nod in response. _

_The emperor only broadened his smile as he told the slave, "You have my permission to speak now, sweetheart. By the way, I am so glad you are obeying the rules so perfectly.. It makes you less of a hassle to deal with." _

_Matt only opened his mouth to say quietly, "I..like living with you, Master Ken. It's better to be in your room, filled with color and life, than my old one which was grey and lifeless. Also, you've been kind to me ever since I moved in with you; I'm lucky...to have you as my master." _

_True, the blonde loved the color in the room. True, he loved knowing there was a way to the outside world in the room. True, he enjoyed sleeping on a bed softer than a feather with sheets as warm as a fire. At the same time, though, he did not like it that much. He lived in constant fear of his master snapping at him and killing him. Despite this, he also lived in a strange sense of devotion to his master: for his master did force the rules on him, but he also obeyed them in order to gain his master's kindness and mercy. As well as to possibly gain his friendship, for he believed his master to be a lonely man and felt pity for him. _

_The indigo haired man looked at the blonde; lust showing in his light eyes as he asked, "I knew you would love living with me.. This leaves me to ask you this, sweetie: do you ever miss your family or friends?" _

_His breath hitched slightly as the Gazimon set down two plates of teriyaki chicken with white rice on the table before exiting. 'My family... My friends.. How could I not miss them? I'm only living at this point so I can see them again.' he thought in despair as he prepared his answer to the Kaiser. _

_"Master Ken, I miss family and friends every day.. Why are you asking me this? Are you going to return me to them? Will I finally go home?" he asked as his voice and eyes lit up in momentary hope along with excitement. _

_The Kaiser only responded with a simple, "Why, sweetie, of course I will return you to them. I have decided it's time for you to see your loved ones again, they are so overtly worried over you, after all." _

_"How long have I been here, master?" he asked in curiosity. _

_"For six months, darling. You've been here for six months." he told the blonde casually. _

_Now the blonde was convinced he was going home. Now he had that hope shine back in him as he realized that he was finally going home. 'Dad, TK, Tai.. I'm coming home! I'm finally coming home! I knew I could last six months.. Six months, I'm going to be free after six months!' he thought in a strange sense of joy; even if it was a lie, he still wanted so badly to believe it to be true. This was his final thought of freedom, his final hope of leaving, his final chance to make it out as Matt and not as a slave. _

_"Amazing.. I did not even notice it to be that long.. Time seems to fly by here, doesn't it?" he replied softly to his now-temporary master. _

_The Gazimon came back with two glasses of water before leaving the room for good. Even he did not want to be present in that room with Master Ken. _

_Still, this did not bother Matt. All he could think about was his family and friends. His home, his life, the sun, the fresh air! All these things he had removed of were going to be given back to him. _

_"It does sweetheart, especially when I am with you." the man with the light violet eyes replied in a kind-toned voice, "Talking time is over, sweetie. Now, before you go I want to give you something back.. Something of yours I still have but don't want." _

_Matt at first thought it was about his old green blazer, white shirt, and jeans. Maybe his master wanted his friends and family to recongize him? No, he was positive they'd be able to know it was him with just one glance at him. Then it had to be for some other reason, right? He had no clue at this point, all he knew he was finally going home. _

_The rest of the dinner was relatively silent, and by the time the Gazimon had come over to take away the plates, the mid-tone eyed teen was more than ready to leave. As he followed his master out of the dining room, all he could think about was home. Home life, going home, Takeru, and his friends who had surely missed him dearly. He was positive they did, or at least they had to. They were back in his master's bedroom and he took his seat on the bed, waiting for his master to give him that something of his back. _

_Matt kept his hope-brimmed eyes to the ground as his master was rummaging through his closet (which lay on the wall across from the bed, hidden behind a black door). The blonde could hear his masters mutterings of the occasional, 'fuck, where is it?' or 'damn it' as he searched throughout his closet. A door was shut and his master suddenly standing before him with his old clothes in his hands. Matt looked at them once, before looking back into his master's eyes. _

_"No, don't put them on, you can keep the outfit you're wearing now, sweetie." the now-friendly Kaiser said to the blonde teen as he nodded and took the clothes into his hands. He then stood up to follow his master out to the balcony where they got on an Airdramon. Matt clung on tightly to his master as he seemed to smile at this. Maybe his master thought this was exciting? Yeah, maybe he did.. They were soon back in that damned forest clearing where Matt was stolen away from his old life, his friends, and family. He shuddered at the negative memories as he gave his master a look of confusion. What was going on? _

_"Sweetie, today, I made a deal with your friends. If they show up here in an hour, then they will get you back. If they never show up at all, then I get to keep you as mine." Matt mentally grinned; he knew Tai would not let him down on this one! His best friend wouldn't. After all, the bushy haired teen was too stubborn and far too hard-headed to let his best friend down. Thus, the waiting game began. It was time against his sanity. His friends against his master. _

_Five minutes turned into ten, ten turned into fifteen, and before they knew it, twenty minutes has passed by. Only forty more to go and he would either be freed or be kept in his master's control. Even though it had only been twenty minutes, his master still felt the need to say, "Hm.. Sweetie, where on earth are your friends? Shouldn't they be here by now if they really cared about you oh-so-much? Where are they, why aren't they here darling? Are you positive they did not forget you?" _

_Matt only ignored him as he only replied in thought, 'They're just running late.. Tai probably had soccer practice and TK with his basketball. Yeah, it has to be that! They will not forget me! They never will.' _

_Twenty minutes soon faded away into forty-five, with the Kaiser taunting the blonde more and more. As forty-five disappeared and turned into a full hour, Matt only thought they probaby were held up by something. _

_"..You know sweetie, they probably don't want you home. They all more than likely view you as weakened burden; a worthless dead weight to carry on their shoulders. One they don't need. Don't you see it, sweetie? If they really cared, they would have been here an hour ago. They would not have chosen to forget about their friend..well, if they ever truly viewed you as a friend at least." the indigo haired man told the slightly distressed, but still confident blonde teen. _

_"Master Ken, please, just one more hour! I know they will come, they're my friends. They would never abandon me, despite what you tell me." he snapped after his master had said this statement, which had struck a chord with the blonde. He only went silent for a moment, before rolling his light violet eyes and letting out a small, "Fine. If you're really, truly, oh-so-convinced they will sweetheart, then we will wait. After that, though, we are going home and you will be mine forever. Got it?" _

_Matt nodded as they waited some more. In his mind, he kept telling himself his master was wrong. His master could not be right about them forgetting him. His master could not be right about them not wanting him home. No, he was wrong! He had to be! As another hour passed and ended, the blonde now felt defeated. Unwanted, forgotten by his closest friends, he was now positive all the things his master had said in the past two hours were true. Why didn't they come? Was it because they all hated him? Was he really just a burden, a worthless dead weight? He must have been, for they did not even come to save him. _

_As he sullenly got on the Airdramon with his master, Matt could feel his already-breaking heart shatter. Everything his master said had to be true. Why didn't they come? How could they forget him? His master soon took the liberty to speak, "Sweetie, you have my permission to speak.. I know it must have hurt to be so harshly rejected by these so-called friends of yours, but just know this: I will never reject you, I will never leave you behind, I will never forget you.. I love you, sweetie. I need you, I want you.." _

_When the Airdramon did finally get back to the balcony of the palace, Matt finally spoke. "I don't burden you, do I master? I don't make your life worse, do I?" _

_The emperor only smirked, a victory song blaring throughout his mind as he approached the broken blonde and led him back inside the room. Once inside, he leaned down and kissed his lips as his hands slid underneath his shirt. _

_"You could never burden me, angel. You could never make my life worse either; no, if of anything, it improved when you came here. I love you forever and I will do everything to keep by my side, no matter what." as he forced his tongue inside his mouth and began to pull off his shirt, Matt found himself not caring. For if his friends did not care, then why should he care anymore? _

_The pale blonde was soon shirtless and being led to the soft, carefree bed of the Kaiser. Once they were on the bed, the blonde started to do the one thing he never did in front of his master. He broke down sobbing. Never in his life had he been so sure everyone around him truly did not want him or view him as a friend. Never was he more sure that his own family did not want him back. They could have saved him, and they didn't. _

_The indigo haired man sighed as he did the only thing which could make the blonde his. Once his angel stopped sobbing, he wrapped his gloved hands around his angel's wrists and pulled him into his embrace. Matt sighed as he thought over today and how his master was acting right now.. 'Master Ken, if you keep acting this way towards me.. Maybe I'll never want to leave. Maybe I will stay, since you are the only one who even wants me still.' this thought in mind, the blonde fell into a deep slumber. _

(Author's Note: Sorry if it took me forever to update this story! I did have three chapters pre-written, but I felt as if they did not match up with the story and gave less of a thought as to how Matt formed that bond with his master. So, I deleted them and still have to finish up on the second and start on the third. Just as a heads up, in the next chapter, you'll hear more of what Ken said to Matt as they were waiting for his friends to come over and save him. Thank you to everyone who reads this story, has a story alert for it, and to everyone who even likes it or has it as their favorite story. Thank you for reading and for your patience. :) )


	7. Chapter 7

Stockholm Syndrome 7

Matt's mid-tone eyes were drowning in thought and memories past. Contradictions were reappearing in his head again and they were causing him loss of sleep.

If his friends truly did quit on him, then who started the war against his master?

_At the start of the seventh month, Matt woke up to his master entering the room in distress. The indigo haired man sighed in frustration before telling his sweetie, "Sweetheart, I have to leave for a while. There's a war that has been started against my kingdom and I have to go. Please forgive me for my absence; I promise it won't be for long."_

_Matt only hugged his master in response to this. Why did he hug the man, especially after all that's been said and done? Because Matt had grown to believe the Kaiser had some shred of goodness in his soul. He believed if he could just show the young man kindness and compassion then the good would show through and his master would change._

_"Sweetie, thank you." he ran his gloved right hand down the dulled blonde's face before pulling him close and kissing him on the lips._

_"I'll miss you, but for the time I am gone, you will obey my lighter half, Ken." he said as a raven entered the extravagant bedroom and smiled gently while he gave a small wave to Matt._

_Matt's eyes were wide, and the Kaiser explained, "You see sweetie, every person has a yin and yang, a good and bad part in their spirits. I managed to seperate my good part from my body so you wouldn't be lonely when I am gone. Makes sense to you or no?"_

_The blonde teen nodded slowly and the Kaiser smirked, "Good. I need to be on my way now, goodbye darling. Don't miss me too much now."_

_"I'll try not to. Goodbye, master." he said as the man with light violet eyes exited through the French doors and jumped on an Airdramon to wherever this war would be held at._

_He then turned to face Ken, who looked far softer than his master. He had chin length, straight black hair, black violet eyes, and wore a light grey turtleneck long sleeved top with matching grey pants and black shoes._

_"Hello sweetheart, I'm Ken. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." the lighter half greeted with a warm smile._

_Matt glanced at him, then down to the floor for he did not know if he had permission to speak or not._

_Ken seemed to notice this and told him right away, "You have my permission to speak! Please, you don't need to worry; I won't punish you for speaking."_

_The golden blonde nervously began to speak, slightly trembling as he did so, "I...um, hi Ken. It's nice to meet you too. I hope I won't be of much trouble to you."_

_The raven reached for his hand and held it up to his lips before kissing it, "Trust me, you won't be of any trouble at all."_

_The thirteen year old could feel a flush appearing on his face, then Ken did something strange to him. He pulled him out of the bed and led him over to the door, telling him, "You look dangerously underweight. Here, let's get you something to eat. You can have anything you want and later on, we can go out anywhere on palace grounds if you'd like."_

_"Even outside on the balcony?" he whispered out in pure disbelief. Surely this had to be a trap or a punishment in disguise, right?_

_No, this definitely was not a trap yet, for Ken only chuckled, "Yes, even the balcony. There are better parts of the kingdom, I can't wait to show you them all!"_

_When they reached the dining hall, Matt asked for miso soup and some waffles. The digimon were more than eager to serve this up, seeing as how this was a change from their usual orders given to them by the Kaiser._

_As they were waiting for the food, Matt found himself speaking to Ken as if he were a longtime friend. He could relax around Ken more and finally be a bit more of himself than what he had been this whole time._

_When the food did arrive and the servant digimon left, Matt asked, "So, who started this war, Ken? Why did they attack master so randomly?"_

_To this the raven only told him, "Matt, I am not allowed to speak to you on the matter. You need to ask your master yourself on this matter."_

_Matt mentally cringed at the suggestion of it; nothing was worse than confronting his master with a question on such things. It always ended in a beating on his end, so he learned over time to avoid it all together._

_"Okay. Hey, can we go on the balcony after this? I really want to see the sun."_

_"Anything for you, my dearest one."_

I bet you're all wondering where the contradiction comes in? Well, it comes in his memory of the eighth month there. The war started in the seventh month and hadn't ended till the tenth.

The three months with his master's lighter half had convinced him the man was good and had a light there that was merely overshadowed by the haze of darkness.

_He had been waiting all day for Ken to come back into the room. You see, his days ran by a new routine: wait in the upper half of the palace where his master's room, library, and art gallery were all at all day and at night, go out to dinner with Ken. After dinner, he'd take him to the courtyard and all they would do is talk of their various adventures in the digital world._

_Anyway, while he was waiting, he opened the French doors to the balcony outside and stared at the currently dark tower scarred digital world. The sun still shone, yet it wasn't as bright anymore. There was still a gentle breeze, but it whistled of loneliness now._

_What once was a world of life and sound had transformed into one of death and silence._

_He lost track of time as he stared out into the deadened universe. It was at this moment, a conversation between two Airdramon caught his audible attention._

_"Those digi-destined brats are it at again! Still keeping up this pathetic war on the Kaiser, how dumb must they be to even dream of a victory." sneered one Airdramon._

_The other cackled, "At this rate, they'll be dead and gone and the digital world will belong to the Kaiser loyalists!"_

_"Ah yes, all hail the Kaiser!"_

_"Long live our emperor!"_

_He froze for a minute or two and ran back in the room before they looked his way._

_When walking about with Ken on the palace courtyard-complete with a perfectly manicured yard, exotic digital world flowers in an entire rainbow of colors, and a gazebo-the currently brighter haired blonde asked, "I heard two Airdramon speaking today. They said the war was started because of the digi-destined, but master told me they didn't care about me anymore. Why are they fighting this war with him, then?"_

_The black violet eyed young man in grey sighed, "I guess I knew it would come to this... Matt, your friends did not start this war. TK did; he did it for your family and for himself because he misses you so much-they all do! Kaiser never told you this, but on the day they bailed on you, TK was never once told of it. They only did it because they believed things were better off with you not being there."_

_Matt's eyes were wide and starting to fill with tears once more as his master's harsh words came back into mind._

_'Things are better for them with you gone, sweetie! Face it; you were never a strong player, you were a weakling who got in their way of victory. That's why they aren't here now. After all, who on earth would want a dead weight back?'_

_"Tai never forgave you for the Cherrymon incident either, you know. Not all people are as forgiving as I am, dearest, I would've forgiven you in a heartbeat and kissed all your sorrows away! Tai didn't; I mean, how could he when he's not as forgiving as myself? Not many could ever fully forgive that, especially not Tai."_

_'Who could blame Tai? I'd hate you with all my guts too if you did something like that to me. You're undeserving of his forgiveness in his eyes; even you should see it.'_

_Ken sighed as he hugged Matt closely, "Hush darling, Tai had a good point anyhow. No one wants a crap friend."_

_'No one wants a crap friend, especially one as weak as yourself.'_

_Something in him snapped at the memory of the cruel things his master said and with a firm voice he demanded, "I want to see the proof that my master had contact with my friends on the day he claimed that he was going to give me back to them if they showed up. I want proof that TK started this war and until I see it, I can't believe it!"_

_Ken gave him a concerned look before relenting to his request, "...Alright, I will show you the proof."_

_He led the blonde inside the palace and to a gray elevator. He pressed a pure black button once inside and held his dearest close. The mid tone grey blue eyed teen looked on with determination, willing to see the proof himself, no matter how good or bad it may be. The doors opened after ten minutes and they were in a blackened room filled with computers and survelliance cameras all showing everything going on in every area of the digital world._

_"Come here, I will show what proof we have of this." Ken instructed him blandly while he walked over to a smaller computer. After clicking a few things on there, he showed the gold haired boy the proof they did have._

_On the screen played a video of Tai, Izzy, Joe, and Sora all standing in a room in their school, each looking perfectly calm and serene. The one who spoke was Tai, "Kaiser, we want to make a deal with you. We will give you the part of the digital world you wanted if you give us back Matt. We will meet you today at the forest clearing you took him from and if you're not there, we'll beat you so hard you won't even see it coming!"_

_Izzy then spoke up, "If you do not respond within at least twenty minutes to this, then the deal is off and you can keep the bimbo for yourself. Understood? If so, good. We'll see you then. If not, then it's not a huge loss for us. We can do well without him there screwing things up. Goodbye, scumbag!"_

_He could feel whatever faith he had left shatter bit by bit as the video ended with Izzy's words._

_Ken then played a survelliance video of TK and Angemon single-handedly attacking a major base in a main area the Kaiser has full reign over. What stood out to him was the fact none of the other digi-destined were around except for Yolei, Hikari, and Davis._

_"...This is the day he went to war. It was all done after this video." the grey clad eighteen year old explained monotonely, "I'm sorry you had to see this."_

_Matt didn't speak for the rest of the night._

Matt's thinking session was broken when Takeru entered the room.

The medium golden blonde smiled softly at his brother, "Hey Matt, you want to play basketball later on?"

Matt's only response was a nonchalant, "No thank you, maybe some other time when my mind isn't so occupied."

The younger brother held back a groan of frustration and instead asked, "What do you think about all day?"

Mid tone grey blue eyes were blank for a moment, that was only it though, just a moment. He looked out the window and said sadly, "Home, master, Ken...my time there. I miss it, TK."

Blue eyes were flabbergasted at this, yet his face remained in a poker state, "This is your home though. I thought of all things, you'd miss this the most!"

Matt shrugged in a wordless answer to the little outburst. Takeru's face then finally showed real emotion for the first time he'd been there as worry took over his features, "Matt, do you honestly miss the Kaiser? I mean-how could you miss him after the way he beat you up so badly? I just don't understand that... Why do you miss him, if you truly do?"

Matt smiled weakly to this, "I don't miss the Kaiser in him. The Kaiser was the bad covering the good and the good part was Ken. Ken was so kind and gentle... Just a wonderful person, really. I know my master's not pure evil, Takeru. So long as Ken is there, then my master has the potential to be a wonderful person."

The fourteen year old sighed, the smile fading off far too quickly from his face, "If I would have given him the love he wanted, then the Kaiser would be gone and all that would be left is Ken. If I would have stayed, I could have changed him for the better, I just know it."

Takeru now is convinced that Matt needs more help than what they can give him alone. Matt is still convinced his master did no wrong.

_The ninth month was spent no different from the eighth, the only difference being Ken spent all of it comforting Matt in the Kaiser's bedroom every night in place of going out to the courtyard. The tenth month differed in a way. The first week, every night would be spent the same as the month previous: Ken holding Matt in his arms in the Kaiser's bed, neither of them speaking except for when Matt would ask if Ken thought he was a bimbo, a crap friend, or a deadweight. Ken always told him 'no' and would say things along the lines of, "Dearest, I love you more than anyone alive. I would never think so little of you."_

_The second week, he was finally (somewhat) over it. When it was nightfall, he was laying on the balcony floor, staring up at the stars._

_Silently he stared at the velvety sky. His eyes were bleak and his heart heavy, his mind was off in a neverland of sorts. One where he was back home, playing with his band, acting as if nothing mattered. The doors opened and before he knew it, there stood Ken in a dark grey get up._

_"Hey dearest, why are you out here?" he inquired of the thirteen year old as he lay on the floor next to his side._

_Matt grinned a small grin to himself mostly, "I...wanted to see the sky."_

_"Oh."_

_Things were comfortably silent for another five minutes or so. The raven broke the silence by handing the blonde a harmonica._

_Matt stared at the instrument for a minute or so while Ken spoke, "I heard you play this. If you don't mind, could you maybe, um, play a song for me?"_

_The golden haired teen sat up, grabbed the harmonica, and began to play a song. He had missed the harmonica so much, just getting the chance to play it (or any instrument in general) was a fantasy come true._

_He finished a favorite of his to play after some couple of minutes and for the first time in a long time, felt relaxed. He felt like he was home and safe again._

_The thirteen year old then lightly smacked himself on the head, "Oh! I almost put it in my pocket by mistake! Ken, do you want it back?"_

_Ken smirked, "Nah, you can keep it. Besides, you'd use it more than me anyhow."_

_They sat against the closed French doors, each staring into the sky. This scene of peace was cut short by Ken straddling Matt only to start kissing him deeply._

_The digi-destined was left breathless, speechless, along with a mix of nervous as well as uncomfortable. He didn't understand why Ken was doing this to him or what his intentions were._

_As his father used to say: 'Mattie, every man has an intention behind the kiss, the touch, and the hand holding. It's all about finding out whose intentions are good and pure and seperating them from those whose intentions are merely bad and lust driven.'_

_When Ken was finished, he was left staring into black violet eyes, feeling a slender, bare hand running through his recently trimmed hair. He then heard the young man say, "I'm in love with you, Matt."_

_Matt eyes gave it all away, "U-Um, Ken I have never been with anyone before or uh, know what it is like to be in love."_

_His shaky voice, the nervousness in his mid toned eyes gave it all away for the raven._

_"Matt, you aren't in love with me yet, but I know by the end of this you will be. So for now I will not rush you, I'll simply let everything fall into it's destined place." the lighter half of the Kaiser explained to him with a far off look in his eyes._

_Ken stood up, brushed the dirt off his clothes, helped his unrequited love off the ground, and led him over to the Kaiser's bed._

_"Goodnight, dearest."_

_"Goodnight, Ken."_

_Unbeknownst to the golden blonde digi-destined, the lighter half was anything but. Ken went over to the survelliance room of the palace and watched as the digi-destined pathetically fought off the Kaiser's army. There stood Tai, Izzy, Joe, and Sora with their digimon, attempting to encourage the younger digi-destined in keeping up the hopeless fight. Ken smirked at this sight, thinking he was alone in the room. Then he felt a tap on his leg. He glanced down to see Wormmon standing there (for once) in pure bravery mixed with disgust._

_"Master Ken, if you are the lighter half, what color would you say you are if the Kaiser is black?" the little green digimon questioned his master._

_Ken pondered this for a bit, responding with his own conclusion of, "I view myself to be a darker shade of grey. Why do you ask, imbecile?"_

_"Really? Because to me, you are not any shade lighter than Kaiser! What are your intentions with this child? Why are you so strange over him?" he asked flat out in an angered voice._

_Ken merely smiled a twisted smile as his black violet eyes were off somewhere in another world, "Because I love him, Wormmon. Kaiser fell for his innocence, his virginity, his naïvete, his body... I am in love with his soul and his personality. If he ever tries to leave me or replace me for someone else, I'll merely steal his soul and store it in this bottle so I can have him forever as mine."_

_Wormmon gaped in shock as the raven held out an intricately designed bottle. It was a beautiful one, no doubt, but Wormmon knew what he had put in there._

_"Kaiser can keep his body. Hell Kaiser can fuck him till the sun rises all he wants! A body isn't eternal; a soul is. If I have his soul, I have him in my possession for eternity and he can never leave me, he'll be forced to love me then because he'll be mine all mine forever! I love him, Wormmon; I truly, truly love him."_

_The little worm was taken aback by this, however it did not stop him from speaking his mind, "...You're sick. You claim to be different from Kaiser, you speak as if Kaiser's intentions are so impure and yours are that of a saint, yet yours are no different from his. You two both want him for selfish reasons and you don't even stop to consider his age for one second or if he would want the same things as you. You claim to be a darker shade of grey, I say you are the darkest shade of black."_

_The green worm suddenly let out a shout of pain. When looking at the full scene, one can see Ken stabbing Wormmon with a pocket knife in his back._

_He dragged out the knife as slowly as one could, after doing so he added insult to injury. He spat on Wormmon and placed his heavy shoe on his wound. The very second his foot is on the wound, he twists and rubs it around just hear the defenseless creature cry in agony._

_"Remember your spot beneath the sole of my shoe, data, because that's the only position in this world you'll ever achieve."_

Takeru left his older brother's room in dismay and worry. He picked up his cell phone and dialed a familiar number. Immediately when they answered, Takeru let out a desperate, "It's worse than what I thought! Tai, I need help. I can't do this on my own, please come over tomorrow."

(Author's Note: Okay, after moving to two different places this past year due to my dad's job, I have finally found my notebook with the final chapters to this story! I'll try get up the final ones as soon as I can, so anywho, thank you to anyone still reading this, anyone still subscribing and whoever favorited this story. Thank you very, very much and I hope I do not disappoint in these last chapters. :) )


	8. Chapter 8

The following day, Matt awoke from a nightmare and after a few minutes to calm himself, got dressed and ready to face his day. Even though no one was awake at the hour (it was 4:00 AM) the fourteen year old could not go back to sleep.

He left a note stating he'd be gone on a walk and put it on the fridge with a magnet to hold it in place. The golden blonde slipped on a jacket, taking his house key out in the process as he unlocked the door. Once outside the door, he locked it again and began his walk out of the building.

The sun was rising slowly, light breaking the black of night into blue. His eyes wandered over his surroundings, his mind dead set on one area.

All the troubled teen wanted was to sit on a park bench and watch the sunrise.

The minute he spotted a path to the park, his journey began. The mid tone eyed blonde was feeling content for the longest time in a long one. He crossed the street and walk another block before reaching the park. The sun was rising and all he wanted was to see the sky change colors, smell the dew on the grass, and feel human again.

He sat there for thirty minutes alone in the purest form of silence. The birds one by one began chirping as the sky became lighter blue, the butterflies were taking flight. Nature coming to life in the sunlight! This is what he had wished to see again, if he ever exited the Kaiser's palace walls. A happy, strong smile graced his face at the sight and he got off the bench to lay on the damp grass, twidling a slither of grass between his fingers.

Tears slide out of his blue grey eyes, yet he made no sound as the smile remained on his lips. Matt finally made a sound, a relaxed sigh of contentment.

* * *

><p>Hiroaki is terrified. Matt went on a walk and hasn't been back since. He's worried that his son may have gone back to the digital world, that he may be with the Kaiser once more.<p>

6:00 AM and still no sign of Matt! He gets on his jacket and goes out of the apartment to find Matt himself. He would never let worry or uncertainity consume him ever again.

The elder blonde man exited the building, fear seeping into his being while he tried to remain as calm as a clam when looking for Matt.

Somewhere along this walk, Hiroaki saw a tall, lean young man dressed in all light grey and with chin length, straight black hair. Grey blue clashed with black violet eyes as they looked at each other for a mere second before walking past each other. For some reason, this small optical interaction made Hiroaki feel sick. Something was off with that young man he had passed...

The father of two shrugged it off and fastened his pace when he saw the form of his son standing in the park only a block away.

He ran up to the fourteen year old, "Matt! Matt, is that you?"

Matt turned to his father, tears of joy falling from his face as he did so, "Daddy, I saw the sunrise! I saw the sunrise after a year of being told I couldn't ever see it again, I finally saw it..."

Hiroaki was taken aback yet he felt relief when, for the time in two months, he heard Matt call him 'daddy' in place of 'master'.

He hugged the young teen before telling him, "...That's great, Mattie. Next time wake me up, so I can go with you."

* * *

><p>Tai arrived later on in the day, ready to speak to his formerly missing best friend. Takeru had shown him the 'memory journals' Matt had, each page detailing exactly where he was at and what happened to him.<p>

Tai, of course, was not alone in this. He had brought Izzy, Sora, and Joe along as well to speak to Matt.

Each had read the journal Matt had written, each of them knew what had been said and done between Matt and the sadistic Kaiser.

After all was read in the journal, Izzy came up with a solution to the problem at hand, "The eleventh and twelvth month were never filled in. We can't speak to him now; he should complete filling out the journals and get these things off his mind first. We'll come after that."

Tai groaned, "But Izzy I wanna speak with him now! He can't avoid us forever, that's what Kaiser would have wanted. He lied to Matt about us and lied to him about us abandoning him, when we never did! Izzy I can't, I don't think I can."

"Tai, I think he's right! We need to let Matt finish getting these awful memories out of his head before speaking to him. We can't push him further than what he can go, it will make things worse." Sora spoke up in concern.

Joe nodded, "He's right Tai; my dad told me all about this. It's a mental thing called Stockholm Syndrome. It's when a kidnap victim or victim of any crime begins to sympathize with their captor or tomentor. Matt needs time away from the Kaiser to fully heal. He needs time to get his mind back together."

Tai groaned out loud, "But I want to clear the air on what the Kaiser lied about to him! Do you really want him to keep believing those lies he was told?!"

Sora was getting agitated, this showed when she scolded her boyfriend, "No, I don't want him to believe those lies, none of us do, but he needs to get it all off of his chest first. We can't rush him Tai; today is the first day he's been outside in two months. We need to let him move on at his own pace."

The bushy haired brunette was silent; dark eyes filled with hesistance and instead of voicing it, he nodded in a reluctant agreement. The auburn haired girl wrapped her arm around her boyfriend's arm, arm in arm, Tai led them out of the apartment.

They were beginning their walk home in pure, depressing silence. Each of them were too busy being consumed by Matt and the issues surrounding him in the aftermath of his return home. It was Tai who finally spoke up when they were near a cafe Matt's band used to play at.

"...If he hadn't been gone, they'd be playing now. Matt would have girls all over him, TK would fighting guys off of Hikari... Things would be normal." Sora's burnt sienna eyes glanced over to him in a bit of concern; her hand now firmly-but gently-grasping onto his.

She did her best to cheer him up, like any good girlfriend would, "Things will be normal again. Time heals all wounds, Tai."

His head shook as he chuckled bitterly, "Time never heals the wounds, it just erases the memory. Things will never be normal again, Sora. I know you don't mean harm with what you said, but I know things won't ever be fully normal again! Especially with all he went through, I mean, god...Sora, I know I couldn't endure what he did without coming out so fucked up. He's not the same Matt, he'll never be the same Matt ever again and it's all my fault for losing that war and not being able to get him back sooner when he needed me most!"

When she saw his face full on, she could see the tears streaming down his face, "I was a crap friend. I was supposed to save him, but I never did. He had faith in us, even at his most broken times, but I failed him. I failed TK, the Ishida family, Gabumon, and all of our other friends! This can't be healed with time, it never will be healed by anything."

All the auburn girl could do in response was to simply keep holding his hand and keep the positive thoughts in mind to stay strong for him. Otherwise she'd be crying now as well.

* * *

><p>Hiroaki smiled the whole way home; he was more than glad to have spent a whole day with Matt, even in spite of the fact Matt never spoke once after their interaction this morning. He was glad to merely spend some time with him outside of the apartment.<p>

The older man glanced over to his silent son, fishing his keys out of his pocket and unlocking the apartment in the process of doing so.

"Mattie, do you want to tell me something?" the father asked of his son when they were in the apartment.

The fourteen year old nodded, "Sure. What do you want me to tell?"

Hiroaki spoke slowly, "Why do you miss this Kaiser so much? What makes you want to be by him?"

Matt's eyes were lost in thoughts and memories for minutes before he answered, "I'll tell you when I'm done writing in my journal. I'll let you read it, I'll let everyone read it so they can see why I miss him and how I know he loves me. Then everyone will understand and I will finally be able to return to the digital world to return to my master and his kingdom."

His father was stunned by his words and all he could say to this was a simple, "Okay Matt, just let me know when it's done."

Matt nodded and returned to his room to finish the journal. He would do anything to get back to his master, even if it means showing them his memories as proof for how wrong they are on his master.

(Author's Note: So this chapter does not have a memory, but that's okay because the next one will! I wanted this chapter to be more about Tai and his reaction than anything, seeing as how he is Matt's best friend. I also wanted to shed light on all the simple things Matt was denied doing (ie. seeing the sunrise, seeing the night sky, going outside) all the things that were taken for granted and why it has such a positive impact on him to do any of these simple things. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't worry, I'll do my best to get these final chapters up soon here! Thank you for reading! :) )


	9. Chapter 9

_It was the first day of the eleventh month there when Kaiser returned as the victor of the war. It was also the last day Matt got to spend with Ken before he got into a giant, glass tube structure connected with wires and metal tubes to another similar glass tube structure. He would then be formed with the Kaiser to be one whole person again. _

_"Dearest, I'm going to miss you." he said in the earliest hour of the morning as the Kaiser entered the room through the balcony. _

_Matt sighed, "I'm going to miss you too Ken, but I know when you're merged with master, you won't be gone. You'll always be there in his soul and so long as you are there, he will always have good in him." _

_The lighter half smiled and kissed his dearest's forehead before following the darker half to the door and leaving through it to never return. _

_The still thirteen year old could feel a lump of an unspoken cry being caught in his throat. He hadn't felt this miserable since finding out the truth about his friends and how they truly viewed him. _

_He lay down in the bed; staring at the ceiling the whole time he did so. Slowly his eyes slipped shut and the world was gone. _

_"...Sweetie, sweetheart, get up." he heard a few hours later when he woke up in a daze. _

_He yawned, "Huh? Master?" _

_The indigo haired man grinned, "Good morning, sweetie. Since Ken told me how good you were when I was absent, I figured I'd reward you. I am in a very generous mood today since winning the war... Don't worry, I'll be gentle." _

_Mid toned eyes were confused, "Gentle?" _

_Kaiser leaned in, kissing the teen on the bed while straddling him. Glove free hands were sliding under his shirt and gripping his hips as it all became clear to Matt what was happening. _

_When the Kaiser pulled away and began to unbutton his shirt as he sucked on his neck, Matt's mind flashed back to something his dad warned him about. _

_'Mattie, it's your body. If you don't want to do anything with another person, it's your right to say 'no'. No one can make you do something with your body that you don't want them to. If they do try to force themselves on you, fight. Fight back and tell them 'no'. Always remember: it's your body, your rules. Nobody, not even a president, can change this fact.' _

_He decided to follow his father's advice on this matter. He shifted his left leg up to his waist and kicked the Kaiser in his chest with all of the strength left in him. The second the devious emperor was off him, Matt hurried over to the nightstand, pulled a pair of handcuffs out of the drawer and cuffed his master to one of the bedposts. _

_"Uncuff me right now, sweetie, and the punishment won't be severe." Kaiser attempted to bargain, but Matt was not having it. _

_"No...no! No, I won't! You think this is love? Love isn't locking a person up on a bed for hours on end! Love isn't depriving a person of sunlight and fresh air and color. I've never been in love before, but I know it isn't this, I know it isn't attempted rape, so stop trying to convince me because I'm done! I'm leaving, Kaiser!" he shouted at the nineteen year old. He then ran out of the door and tried to run outside. Kaiser, on the other hand, was left to struggle in the cuff holding him to the bed. _

_"Wormmon! You pathetic shit, get me out of here!" he ordered the worm, whose response was, "Funny, I thought I was too weak and pathetic to know how to do such things. Good luck freeing yourself, Master Ken." _

_Wormmon left the room, which left Kaiser to break himself out of the cuffs._

_Matt had managed to get to the lower level of the palace and just his luck, he found the hall with the room where he made his first escape attempt from. He ran towards the hall and to the room to get out of the window. _

_Right as he was in the room, he felt a tug on his pant leg, "Matt, take me with you." _

_He looked down to see Wormmon, and smiled faintly, "Alright. Let's go now, while all the digimon in the palace are still celebrating in the main level dining hall." _

_He let the little creature cling onto his leg and with a shove, was able to get them out of the opened window. _

_"We're almost there Wormmon! We're almost free!" _

_They made it to the edge of the floating kingdom and when he saw an Angemon from the distance, he called out, "Angemon! Angemon help; help get me away from here!" _

_The angelic digimon flew up to the desperate duo. Matt had never felt his heart beat so fast, his head get so light... _

_"Matt, no!" _

_His vision was white before quickly turning black and everything became silent. _

_The teen woke up only fifteen minutes later in his usual whipping room. His eyes squinted at the bright light in the room, but before he could even speak, he was being beaten with a baseball bat. _

_The blonde counted the whacks to his body as he covered his head in a form of self defense, "Stop, please! I'm sorry I ran!" _

_After five whacks, the wielder of the bat ceased his assault, "I brought you here to be my sex slave. You have no say in whatever it is I want to do to you." _

_The beaten teen could hear the bat dropping, and when he believed it was safe to, he began to slowly lift himself off of the floor. _

_A loud shriek escaped his lips when he was tackled to the ground and stabbed in his arm. He puts up his hands, trying to fend off knife wounds to his person. The blonde then cried out, "Master, I only ran because I didn't want to have sex yet! Please, please understand!" _

_The knife burned his skin with every entrance it took in his body. The cuts were not too deep, but they still bled out enough to leave a rather decent sized puddle forming on the floor. _

_The stabbing halted a minute after the struggling kid explained himself, but by then it was too late. Kaiser stopped his stabbing, true, yet he was still furious. _

_"You think I care? You are my slave, when I want to fuck you, you should lie there and take it like a good slave would. For your punishment, you will be locked inside a dark pit with no light, only darkness. For the first two weeks, you will be deprived of food, but don't worry you will still be supplied with water. On the third and final week, you will receive one serving of one small, square piece of bread a day. After the third week, you will be released from the pit." the emperor explained as the dazed blonde's focus finally came to and he could see his master standing there, arms crossed with his face displaying his wrath. _

_Matt knew better than to beg for his life to a madman at this point. In reluctant silence, he was taken away by two of the Kaiser's henchmen and led into the room across the hall from the whipping room. The grey door opened to reveal a room so dark his eyes couldn't adjust to it. A new dark ring was placed around both his neck and wrist before he was pushed down into what he thought was the pit. _

_He sat still in some area of the pit for quite some time, but the moment he tried to lie down on the ground, his whole body was shocked. Soon after his body felt stiff—so much so to where he couldn't move. Despite his general weakness as well as feeling tired, he couldn't shut his eyes no matter how hard he tried._

_Inwardly he was freaking out. Outwardly he couldn't even open his mouth to speak. It was as if his whole body had been trapped into this position. _

_How long would he be stuck like this? Trapped with no way to see, speak, or move on his free will? _

_Meanwhile, elsewhere in the floating kingdom, there sat the Kaiser with a wide smile on his face at the sight on one of his million security cameras. His eyes conveyed a certain level of apathy towards his 'soulmate's' pain which left Wormmon reeling in disgust. _

_"__Master…what did you do?" _

_"__Simple: I made a venom from a certain digimon into something safe enough to use on human without killing him, but strong enough to freeze his body in the position I chose. He'll remain like this for two weeks." he explained nonchalantly, "I am amazed at how well I was able to make it to work with the technology of the dark ring. I honestly thought it would be much more tedious, but it took me only a few hours max. Ah, wouldn't they be proud if they could see me now?" _

_All the poor creature had to say was a simple, "They'd hate you because you're still the same cold blooded person who killed them and you hadn't changed your ways, Ken. Tell yourself you're the lighter, blame it on the 'Kaiser' all you please, say to yourself he's not you for all it's worth. It won't change the fact that you and him are one in the same. He's only more blunt about it whereas you are in denial." _

_Kaiser cackled at this, "Really? Fine then; keep living in fantasy you delusional waste of space. If you didn't make for such a good punching bag I would've had you killed a long time ago."_

_Wormmon sighed in response but did not say much else. There was no point anymore. Ken had finally gone off the deep end and basically became one with the emperor. Kaiser's sadism reached a new extreme in the process of this; which left the once loyal digimon with one conclusion: his master could never be saved because there was nothing good left in him to salvage._

Matt hadn't been looking forward to hearing this talk. He knew it was coming but at the same time, he wasn't necessarily ready for it. His father and mother were pestering him yet again to talk about what happened. How was he treated? What happened to him when he was held captive? What was like? How did he feel during the ordeal?

There they were again, in his room, their eyes locked onto his, and it was his mother who asked this time, "Matt, you've been home for a while now, and I know it's a tough subject to speak on, but please…Matt, we need to know what happened. You know you can speak to us about anything, right? You know if something is a trigger that makes you flashback to those awful times, you can tell us."

Hiroaki took his turn to speak, "I know you don't want to talk now, but when can we know what happened? When can we expect to hear from you what happened?"

Matt explained in what felt like the hundredth time, "When I am done writing in the journal, I will let you read it and then you'll know what happened. If you have any questions, you should gather them together because I'll answer any questions only once."

The older man with the darker blonde hair asked right away, "Mattie, did he rape you or not?"

The slightly shorter woman beside him sent him a shocked (or was it horrified?) look when he asked the question so bluntly.

Matt nonchalantly shook his head, "No…he never did anything to me."

"Are you sure? Tai and Izzy told me you were in a coma and that you had woken up on the day they got you back. How are you sure he didn't—"

"Joe's dad did every test on me in the book. You can ask him. I wasn't raped because my master would never do that to me."

Matt sounded so sure, yet Hiroaki wasn't sure at all. Going off of what he saw in videos taken of his 'master', Hiroaki was more than positive something had happened.

"Ah, well…we'll leave you to your writing Matt." Natsuko said to hide her awkwardness from being in the room for too long. She left the room with a hesitant Hiroaki following suite.

As for Matt, he was relieved to have his room back so he could finish writing down in his journal what all had truly happened.

_Two weeks had passed without sleep, without movement, without being able to speak. Kaiser had come in to inject something into his lips so he could open them to drink the water he would bring in for him. Then he would inject them with another syringe and his lips would be frozen shut once more. _

_Every sound in the pit—no matter how small—could trigger him into thinking it was his master returning to punish him. All he could do for the two weeks was stare at a dime-sized hole across the pit from his position. From what he could gather, he was in the center of it. He had no real clue to this, however, so all he was left to do was to stare at that hole in that wall across from him because it was the only miniscule source of light in the darkness. _

_He became increasingly paranoid about everything in the pit. What if there was poison laced upon the walls and floors? What if the light was a camera with which the Kaiser used to watch his every movement? What if there was a trap door on the ground in the pit that would lead down to a bin of acid? _

_All he could rely on was his master and his presence. After all, his master wouldn't hurt him. His master wouldn't poison him or throw him in a bin of acid. Sure his master was prone to violence, but his master would never kill him like this damned pit would! It had been so long without sleep, he couldn't even remember how or why he had gotten in the pit. _

_His stomach felt as though it was eating away at his insides and his mind was groggy with all the paranoid thoughts running about in it. Or was that because of lack of sleep too? He couldn't tell anymore. _

_Once the two weeks over and he could move once more, Matt found that he was too afraid of the pit to move from his spot. _

_It didn't help that he kept hearing voices in the corners of the pit that told him all of these awful things daily. Was that in his mind or did he actually hear them? He couldn't remember. _

_Then one day, his master came into the pit to give him his bread, but Matt refused to take it. _

_"__Why won't you eat your bread, darling?" he asked his captive. _

_"__Because…you…poisoned it. T-They told me you would poison my food next, but I don't want to believe them and it looks like there's something on it which could pass as poisonous—" _

_In response to this, the Kaiser became annoyed and opted for a simple beating. He grabbed a stone from the ground and hit Matt in the head only once. That one time was enough for the blonde to fall to the ground and not wake up. _

_The now dimly lit room (due to light from the open door) was enough for the Kaiser to enact his brutality. He kept beating unconscious body till he heard the sounds of rib cracking, smelt the scent of blood from a few gashes he had made, and felt the body beneath him twitch violently before ceasing all movement in a sign of submission. _

_He stood up when all was done and dusted off the dirt from the floor off of his clothes. When he saw the state his captive was in, he merely groaned in irritation and shouted, "Guards! Get down here and get him to the infirmary!" _

_Wormmon hadn't known of Matt's fate till hours later when a Gazimon told him, "Hey, did you hear about the emperor's soulmate? Apparently he got punished so hard that he's in a coma now at the infirmary." _

_Wormmon didn't even continue the conversation. He hurried over to the second level in the castle and up a flight stairs that lead to a hall with another set of stairs leading to the third level. On this hall there was a door right beside the stairs which led to the third level and beyond this door was the infirmary. _

_The little, green blob of a digimon was saddened by the sight the moment he entered the room. (Thankfully for him, two Palmon's were kind enough to open the door for him before they entered the room themselves) _

_"__Matt, why did you fight? I told you so many times to submit and let master win. Why didn't you listen?" he whispered sorrowfully as he approached the young teen's bedside. _

_Matt looked horrid. Black bags under eyes, his body seemed thinner than before, and there were bruises along with bandages all over his upper body. Wormmon didn't even want to know what happened. _

_"__Isn't it such a waste? Here I was planning to fuck him, too." said a careless voice he knew all too well. _

_"__Master Ken, I don't care what you did to him. Promise me one thing and one thing only. All I am asking is that you—for once in your damned life—think about someone else for once! Don't force yourself upon him when he's in this weakened, sleep like state. That's low, Master Ken, especially for you." Wormmon snapped at his master in some hope there was still some shred of decency left in his soul. _

_"__Pfft! Why would I? It's no fun when they're not awake."_

_Now he had finally a tiny drop of hope in him, "So you won't touch him when he's like this?"_

_"__No, how many times do I have to tell you that, dipshit? I want him to be awake and enjoying it when I do get my way with him." _

_For the first time in eleven months since Matt had first arrived, Wormmon could rest easy. _

Matt tried so hard to remember any dreams he had while comatose, any thoughts, anything at all yet it was a blank. He couldn't remember a thing. Why he couldn't, he had no clue, but he did remember the day he was returned to his family and so-called friends.

_It was the night before the one-year anniversary of Matt's disappearance and Ken was bored. Matt had been comatose since last month and it was really starting to annoy him. I mean, how selfish could his sweetheart get? _

_The bored nineteen year old checked his security cameras for any disturbances. To his chagrin, there were none at all. Nothing was more boring than a perfect day in his eyes. Well it would've been perfect if he had gotten the chance to have sex with his sweetheart, but that wasn't happening anytime soon in the nearest future. _

_Then he checked his emails and grinned victoriously. _

_"__Hello, digi-brats. May I ask why you wish to speak to me?" he asked the group of teens in the webcam chat mockingly. _

_"__Can it! You know why we want to speak to you, you asshole! Give me my brother back!" Takeru shouted before being restrained by that other kid (Davis, was it?) and Tai took the stance as leader of the group to speak. _

_"__Kaiser, listen…we need Matt back tomorrow. It's his birthday and his parents are really worried. I know it's a lot to ask, but consider our deal. If you give us Matt back, we will not return to the Digital World for one year for any reason at all. You will be free to conquer as much land as you please and do what you please with it all in exchange for the return of Matt." the tanned, medium auburn haired teen spoke with the calmest voice he could muster. _

_Needless to say, the Kaiser was excited. A year where he could conquer the world without the digi-brats interfering? That was all he had wanted all these past few years since being here! _

_The king of the digital world played a bluff, pretending to be hesitant on the offer as he said, "I don't know…your digimon will all cause trouble if they're here too and besides you hadn't given me your word that you won't do it." _

_"__We promise we won't return for a year and we promise our digimon won't return either! All we want is Matt back!" Tai pleaded with the indigo haired nineteen year old. _

_"__Alright. I'll return him to you tomorrow morning, 7:00 sharp. If you are not there, the deal is off." _

_"__Trust me, we will be there." _

_"__Fine by me. It was fun while it lasted digi-brats. Hope you enjoy it when he's back." _

_Having the last word in the matter, the Kaiser closed the webcam chat and turned to face Wormmon. _

_"__Looks like I'll have a kingdom to rule now." He spoke proudly to the digimon who he regarded as a punching bag. _

_"__Are you really going to give him back, just like that? Aren't you worried he'll run off for someone else?"_

_"__Don't worry, Wormmon. He'll return to me. I know he will." _

_The following morning, on the one-year anniversary of his disappearance, Matt was returned to his friends in his comatose state. Takeru hadn't been able to return him to their parents till a week later when he woke up at the hospital Joe's father worked at. _

_He hadn't said anything when he woke up or even on the car ride back to his place (courtesy of Joe's father). His mind was still trapped in the Digital World, in the Kaiser's lair, in the Kaiser's arms… All he found was that he missed his master and wanted to go back in light of everything that had passed. _

"Mom, dad… I'm done with the journal." he informed them in a small voice, "You can read it now if you want."

He gave them the journal before heading back to his room to catch up on some missed schoolwork he needed to finish. He hadn't known that the journal, which recounted all he had gone through, would make his parents sick to their stomachs and leave them in a state of shock.

He also hadn't a clue that Takeru was planning on showing the journal to all the other digi-destined that very same day.


End file.
